They Called You the Winter Soldier
by x stickers
Summary: The one where Darcy gets kidnapped by Hydra and the Winter Soldier saves her life, loses his memory, saves her life again, and Darcy thinks it's about damned time she returns the favor. (FEELS plus LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT plus DARCKY plus MEMORY LOSS plus hints of soulmates/alpha male bucky barnes vibes.)
1. Chapter 1

" _Speaking_ " is in Russian.

' _Thinking_ ' are thoughts.

"Speaking" is regular dialogue.

* * *

part one

. . .

"Just answer my question, and you'll make things easier on yourself." The Hydra agent told Darcy in a tone that was attempting to sound sympathetic, but it was hard for her to believe that he could _possibly_ be on her side since he just _pistol whipped_ her in the face for the second time that night.

Darcy spit out the clot of blood in her mouth that oozed from the open wound, and she let out a strained, pained groan. She'd long since lost her glasses, broken somewhere in the room from the first time he struck her face.

"I _did_ answer your question." She hissed between bloodied teeth, "It's just not what you _want_ to hear."

The Hydra supporting _scumbag_ gave her a sympathetic click of his tongue, and he grabbed onto the wrench that was laying on the table next to some other, _more menacing_ looking torture instruments.

"That's right." The guard agreed dryly. "Unfortunately, I have orders to _take out the trash_ if it doesn't have anything valuable to say."

He patted the wrench in his hand in an ominous manner.

Darcy flinched, chains rattling against the concrete, keeping her restrained in the chair that they'd tossed her in. Her wrists were cuffed to the armrests, chains linked to the floor.

She wasn't going anywhere.

She clenched her eyes shut, because there was no denying the fact that she was scared as hell, but honestly, getting kidnapped by nazi loving _freaks_ wasn't a situation that hasn't crossed her mind since she accepted Jane's offer to work at Stark Tower for her- _really_ working, with a weekly paycheck and everything.

She knew the risks, she's _experienced_ the risks after tagging along with Jane's search for Thor.

But this.. was a little extreme.

"Now, we know that you work alongside Dr. Foster, Ms. Lewis. And after Stark took care of our mole inside of his building, we've been left radio silenced on Ms. Fosters and Dr. Banner's research on keeping the Hulk's vital levels down while he's, you know." The Hydra scum had the audacity to _smirk_ at her. "..Hulking out."

"I _don_ ' _t_ know!" Darcy snapped, frustration clear in her voice. She didn't even know Jane and Dr. Banner were doing experiments together. "And I'm not going to suddenly know, just because you keep _repeating_ yourself!"

The Hydra guard's eyebrows rose in amusement, before dipping down into a deep, dark frown.

"That's unfortunate, Darcy." He told her gently, leaning forward so his face was right in front of her own. "Because I _really_ didn't want to have to do this."

He raised the wrench up, and Darcy clenched her eyes shut when she felt the impact of him smashing the back of her right hand. She let out a loud, excruciating scream of agony as she stomped her feet on the ground with angry frustration.

" **Fffff** \- son of a _bitch_!" Darcy snapped, teeth gnawing together. The Hydra scum took a step back, leaning down so he was in Darcy's face once again.

"Now, I'm going to ask you _one more time_." He spoke slowly, dropping the friendly act.

It wasn't working anyways. Darcy was pretty sure the 'friendly' act only worked if you _didn_ ' _t_ beat your hostage into submission.

She was in full on tears, throwing her head back as she tried to regain her composure, choking on her sobs.

"I _**said** I don_ ' _t_ -!"

The door slammed open, and Darcy began to cry even harder, because the last thing she wanted was for there to be more visitors to sit and watch her being tortured. She stomped her feet some more, writing in her seat in pain as the Hydra guard turned his attention away from her.

" _What_ -" He said, speaking in Russian. " _W-Winter_ -?"

Darcy's eyes snapped open when she heard the Hydra supporter being cut off with a loud grunt. The first thing she saw was the man who'd been torturing her getting kicked across the room with inhuman strength.

She jumped in her seat, the heavy chains rattling against the floor as she tried to moved around. She watched, confused and shocked when the Hydra agent pulled out his gun from it's holster, pointing the weapon at some topless, shaggy haired man with a metal arm.

"Stand down, Winter Soldier."

Darcy's watery gaze darted between the topless, sweaty man and the man who'd been torturing her.

She didn't know what the _hell_ was going on, but as long as it kept her from getting wacked with that _fucking wrench_ again, then she didn't mind the distraction.

The man- Winter Soldier? He was silent as he stared at the Hydra agent with a blank, unreadable look on his face. There was no recognition in his eyes, and Darcy froze when the disheveled man's gaze slid over to her, his lips pressing into a frown, before returning his blue hues to the Hydra lacky who'd placed his finger on the trigger of his gun, speaking in Russian now.

 _"Stand down, Winter Soldier. Whitehall will see to you soo-"_

Darcy let out a startled shout when the shaggy haired man suddenly threw a quick, small blade at the guard, excellent marksmanship piercing him right between his eyes with the knife.

She began frantically tugging on her shackles, whimpering in pain each time the iron cuffs jolted against her right, broken hand.

"Please-" Darcy begged, and she was _proud_ of the fact that she was speaking so steadily, because the pain she was in right now only made her want to scream out in agony each time she flexed her finger tips.

It was fucking _torture_.

She wasn't trained for this kind of situation. And she doubted Jane was, either.

 _Oh, Jane._

"I don't know anything." Darcy tried to reason with the topless soldier. " _Please_ , just let me go."

She tugged at her left arm, wanting desperately to clutch her broken palm and nurse it against her chest, but the handcuffs were restricting her from doing so. The man eyed the guards body as it dropped to the floor, lifeless.

He then turned two shockingly blue sets of eyes onto her.

The girl was a brunette with green eyes flecked with blue, and she was weeping yet _furious_ , and probably the most beautiful woman James had ever seen.

And it bothered him that this was something he knew for a fact, since he couldn't remember _anything_ about himself _at all._

Nothing. Bucky couldn't remember a thing. Not his name, or why the fact his left arm was made of metal.

Why the sounds of her screams from the lab right next door struck him like a cord.

Why he'd ignored his orders to stay in the chair- (he _never_ ignored his orders) and watched as one of his guards interrogated the weak looking woman chained helplessly to her seat.

Instincts told him to help her.

Instincts told him to kill the guard.

"Okay," Bucky spoke to her gently, his voice deep and devoid of emotion as he knelt down in front of her so he could examine the chains.

Darcy tensed, clenching her eyes and fist shut when he crouched down near her. She hissed in pain when she accidentally flexed her broken palm.

" _Shh_ - _ittt_." She drawled out, hissing between clenched teeth.

She wasn't sure if she was supposed to trust him. He just _killed a man_ right in front of her eyes, even if the man he killed wasn't a very _good_ man.

Darcy didn't know whether he'd be killing her next.

"Okay?" She repeated after a few moments of silence in disbelief, opening her eyes to look down at the Soldier. "Just like that? ' _Okay_ '?"

Bucky gently grasped at the brunette's palm. It was bleeding and broken- he abruptly marched over to the dead bodyguard and picked up the gun. He then tore the fabric off the guards black sweater, tucking the gun into his belt and kneeling back in front of the injured brunette.

Darcy furrowed her eyebrows together, confused when he gently wrapped her broken hand with the fabric, using enough pressure that managed to ease the ache in her palm, even if only just a little bit. She looked up at him with wide, confused green eyes.

"I saw him put the key to my cuffs in his pocket," She pleaded, still not quite believing this man was _really_ going to set her free.

 _Sure_ , he was hot, and _topless_ , and had the saddest blue eyes she's ever seen- but he also had a _metal arm_ , shaggy hair that reached his shoulders, and dark sleepless eyes. Now that she looked at him, he was more scary than hot.

 _Definitely_ more scary.

Still hot, but _really fucking scary._

Suddenly, Bucky gripped the chains that were shackled into the ground and tore them with his bare hands- well, _hand_ , and _prosthetic metal hand,_ because she sill couldn't get over that.

(And she knew it was rude to stare, but damn, those scars where metal met joints looked like it hurt like hell.)

The sounds of loose, clinking chains hit the ground, and Bucky felt a sense of accomplishment upon setting the young woman free.

He didn't need to receive orders to know that this was the right thing to do. And if his orders told him to do otherwise.. well, then, his orders were not right.

Darcy hopped out of her seat, chains rattling behind her. _Sure_ , he set her free, but she still had the cuffs locked around her wrist. She ran over to the guards dead body, a puddle of blood now leaking from his head, and Darcy dug into his pants pockets to pull out the key, stumbling with her left hand as she tried to unlock her unreliable, dominant right hand.

She refused to ask the metal-arm man for help- we've already established the fact that he's more scary than hot, and the fact that super strength could be added to that list of _scary things_ about him.. it didn't really help things.

Finally after a short struggle, Darcy managed to unlock the chains with her left hand and very carefully with her right. The cuffs finally fell to the ground with a loud clang, and she released a sigh of relief, clutching her hand to her chest.

Her face still hurt from being pistol whipped by that dead body guard. Fucking prick. That's why he was dead now.

Crap, it actually didn't feel so good celebrating his quick demise.

Death was still _death_.

Darcy felt like she was going to be sick. She looked down at her hands, which was wrapped up so she didn't have to look at the grotesque, marred skin every time she looked down. It actually did make her feel a _little_ better.

She shot a cautious look at the man who helped her, and Bucky was watching her every move with careful eyes.

The woman was wearing a white top, which had now been ruined with blood and tears.

Tight dark blue jeans and black boots. Her hair was disheveled, and her entire posture was on the defense. She was afraid of him, and she had every right to be.

Bucky could not remember a damn thing, but he knows he's done some terrible things in his life. Something was wrong with him. And for just a moment, Bucky was just as scared for the weak, innocent beautiful looking brunette.

"Who are you?" Darcy asked him, because she wasn't sure if he worked with SHIELD, or if he was a runaway hostage like herself, or.. what?

"They call me the Winter Soldier." He told her in that same monotonous tone.

She furrowed her eyebrows together, confused by his response.

"The _Winter Soldier_?" She repeated in an incredulous tone, before abruptly shaking her head. His lame 'superhero' nickname was the least of her worries right now.

He was watching her with cautious eyes, waiting to see what she would do next. Darcy couldn't understand what was going on, because if they were going to get out of here, shouldn't they leave like now, _right_ now?

"Alrighty then, soldier. Are we- are you really going to help me out of here?" She was looking at him with green, expectant eyes.

Bucky already knew the answer before she'd ask- he'd do whatever she wanted. All he wanted in return was one thing.

"What is your name?" He asked her.

Darcy was surprised by his accent, it was Russian like she'd assume, but she could hear something American in there as well. She was also startled by his question.

"What? Oh- I'm- I'm Darcy. Thanks, by the way. You saved me from having to watch that man play whack a mole with my hands." She let out a short, pained laugh as she clutched her broken palm protectively against her chest.

"Is that what you want, Darcy?" Bucky asked the young woman, his eyes holding no deceit as he looked down at her.

Darcy nodded her head several times, taking an enthusiastic step towards the topless man.

"Yes, yes. please!" She wasn't above begging, especially if it meant this man was going to help her break out. "I'd honest to God, cross my heart, hope to die, _promise_ to be your number one fan if you got me out of here." It was almost as though she were trying to egg him on.

His eyebrows raised in amusement, because her energy was really cute, _really fucking cute_ , and he almost didn't want to let her go.

But he couldn't say no to her.

And this time, it wasn't because he was afraid of not following orders.

No, the Winter Soldier was afraid of seeing that beautiful face scrunch up in disappointment.

Plus, Bucky liked the thought of being her favorite guy in the whole world.

"Alright, Darcy. I'll help you out of here."

Darcy almost bounced from joy at his response, but she didn't because bouncing meant bumping her hand, and that was a big no no. Instead, the personal assistant to Dr. Jane Foster gave her savior the best smile she could manage with her battered face.

"Awesome stuff." Was her so very intelligent, cheeky response. "Lets get _out_ of this shit hole."

Bucky launched forward to help her walk once he realized she was limping. Darcy quickly lifted her uninjured hand, waving him away when he tried to wrap an arm around the smaller girls shoulder.

The Winter Soldier frowned, because he could tell she was still frightened of him. He wouldn't push her limits, not wanting to scare her more.

Darcy slowly limped over towards the exit, the Soldier only just a few steps in front of her. There was something that was bugging her.

"Hey, how did you manage to break free anyways?" She asked, wincing as she tried to ignore the throb in her thigh that shot sharp jolts of pain through her body with each step. "I bet they had you locked up even worst than me. How'd you get out?"

Soldier peered over his soldier, ocean blue eyes piercing into her unsuspecting ones as he gave her a genuine answer.

"I heard you. You were begging for him to stop."

Darcy couldn't explain why she suddenly felt embarrassed, and she clutched her aching hand to her chest as she shyly avoided her gaze.

"I, um.. Uh, well.." She stammered idiotically, "Thanks, man. These.. these people are nuts. I thought Captain America took care of Hydra anyways- I bet that's what they're still teaching in classes. Fucking America. You can't even _begin_ to understand how much I miss New Mexico-"

She was rambling to herself, and the Winter Soldier didn't respond, instead freezing outside of the doorway once he stepped into the hall.

Darcy noticed Soldier's tense demeanor, and she froze in the doorway as well, realizing what he must of been staring at. She followed his gaze, and groaned once she realized she was right.

A group of armed Hydra guards.

"Shit." Darcy cursed.

"Ah, Winter Soldier. I heard you were causing a ruckus. _I t's so rare for you to have an outburst like this. You've even gone and killed one of my men. _You know what this means. We must start from scratch."

The soldier protectively tucked Darcy behind his back.

This man, he remembered. Whitehall, he was the man who gave him orders. This was the man who could make him have no control over his body. This was the man who wiped his memory over and over again.

Darcy watched as the Winter Soldier reached for his gun. She couldn't understand what was going on, they were slipping between English and Russian far too quickly for her to get a clue, but it didn't take a genius to figure out they were in trouble.

"Take a deep breath" Dr. Whitehall spoke to the Soldier in a strong, determined voice. "And clear your mind. Surrender, and you will find meaning. Surrender, and you will find release."

Darcy watched, startled by how the Soldier's metal arm froze in it's descent to retrieve his gun. He suddenly relaxed, resting his hand at his side. Darcy jumped back in fear.

"No!" She cried out, trying to get the Winter Soldier's attention. "What are you _doing_!?"

Whitehall's gaze flickered to the battered brunette woman, before repeating his brainwashing mantra in Russian.

" _Take a deep breath, and clear your mind. Surrender, and you will find meaning. Surrender and you will find release. You know what is best. What is best is that you comply_."

Darcy watched, horrified as the Winter Soldier seemed to be giving into this Hydra superiors words, and she felt bone chilling fear when she realized she was on her own once again.

Whitehall gave his man a look over, before announcing to his agents. "The Winter Soldier has returned to us." He then turned his attention to Soldier, and Darcy slinked further back into the room, anywhere would be better than right there.

"Winter, why don't you go take a seat in your chair, yes?" Dr. Whitehall asked the Soldier in a tone that held no question.

The Winter Soldier didn't respond, wordlessly turning down the hall and back into the lab which was right next door.

Darcy was against the back wall now as she watched the Hydra leader standing in the door way, arms crossed behind his back, giving er a curious look.

"We will keep the girl alive, for now. I think we have stumbled upon a fascinating discovery. It appears to me, the Soldier has a strange connection with this one. We shall experiment and see."

And with that, Dr. Whitehall turned around and slammed Darcy's cellroom shut, locking her inside, alone in the dark with the dead body just a few feet away from her.

She slunk down to the ground, bringing her knees to her chest. She cradled her broken hand, which was wrapped neatly in the black cloth that Soldier made for her.

She _definitely_ didn't get paid enough for this.


	2. Chapter 2

**part two**

. . .

* * *

. . .

"Do you understand, Winter Soldier?" Dr. Whitehall asked the former American soldier who'd just been freshly wiped of everything but the title they gave him, and a few of his past missions.

The Doctor spent all morning debriefing him for a new mission.

He wanted him to put someone down- they _always_ wanted him to put someone down. He was their weapon, their Winter Soldier, and all he needed to do was follow his orders.

So when Whitehall handed him the gun, and led the Winter Soldier to the holding room where the hostage was at, the Soldier was surprised when he found himself frozen in his spot instead of shooting the target on sight, like he'd been ordered.

A young woman sat huddled on the floor. She was clutching an injured hand, and she jumped in fright when she heard him kick the door down.

The Winter Soldier examined her with careful eyes, his gun pointed at her head, finger frozen on the trigger.

The woman stayed on the floor, staring at the Soldier with shocked, betrayed, _brilliant_ green eyes. She clenched her heart with her left hand, eying the gun that was pointed at her with a fearful expression on her face.

" _Oh_? _Helll_ -lo there." She spoke sharply in a worried tone as she tried to scoot even closer against the wall. Her entire posture was on the defense, she was afraid of him, and he couldn't blame her.

She looked weak, fragile with all of her injuries and those teary, frightened green eyes. For a moment, Bucky was frightened _for_ her, because he couldn't remember a _damn_ thing about himself, but he knows he's done some very bad things in his lifetime.

Some god damned, _awful_ things, missions that Whitehall didn't feel the need to erase from his memory.

But even with all of the hours spent brainwashing, or the months he spent on ice, it _still_ wasn't enough to get him to hurt her.

The Winter Soldier furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, lowering his gun as he stepped into the room. Darcy's eyes widened, unsure of what was going on, but the fact that he lowered his gun was a good sign, right?

He seemed different from when she first met him, only a few hours ago.

 _(How long have they kept her here, anyway?)_

Still, for some reason, it appeared that no matter the circumstance, he still didn't want to hurt her. Which was completely A-O-K with Darcy, just as long as he kept his gun _pointed at the floor_ , thank you very much. Does he ever turn the safety on that thing?

"Who are you?" Soldier asked her, his voice gruff with- was that pain? Or confusion?

It sounded like pure anger to Darcy, and she was left feeling just as confused as he must of felt.

Didn't they _just_ have this conversation the first time he barged into her cell? Was this some kind of joke?

"Wh- huh?" She stumbled over her words, voice raspy from the lack of water.

Darcy watched as a Hydra soldier cursed and rushed into the room to retrieve her.

She let out a startled shout when the Winter Soldier suddenly lifted his pistol and shot the Hydra guard who'd roughly grabbed her arm, killing him instantly as the body collapsed to the floor.

Darcy couldn't tear her eyes away as the man was shot down _right next to her_ , and she snapped her head back up towards Soldier, her face filled with anxiety.

Bucky lowered his gun, realizing he was frightening the beautiful young woman, and that was the _last_ thing he wanted.

And it's been so long since he's wanted something for himself.

He took another step towards her, and Darcy pressed her back against the wall, shaking her head at him warningly, wanting him to please please _please_ just stay over there.

Bucky opened his mouth to ask for her name once again, but the two were interrupted by the sounds of footsteps and loud voices through the halls.

Darcy clenched her eyes shut and silently cursed to herself again, because this was freaking _insane_ , and now there was _two_ dead bodies in the room-

The guards charged into the cell, two of them restraining the Winter Soldier while another two grabbed Darcy from behind, dragging her towards the door.

She watched with wide eyes as they tried to hold Soldier down- what was _wrong_ with him? Why wasn't he fighting back?

Why didn't he remember her?

Was he, or wasn't he on her side?

"Soldier!" Darcy cried out, trying her best to look over her shoulder at him through the mess of her wild hair, and the Hydra souldier who was currently carrying her out.

She tried to tug her arm out of the guards grip, elbowing him in the chest. "Hey, let me go asshat!" Darcy snapped at the guard, before trying to get Bucky's attention once again.

"Soldier! What are you _doing_?! Don't let them control you!" She sounded angry at him, and it only served to confused James some more.

He didn't _know_ this woman, he would remember meeting someone as beautiful and lively as her.

Why couldn't he remember her?

Darcy was resisting the guards with all her might now, one of them bear-hugging her from behind and lifting her off of her feet. Darcy kicked around in the air wildly, still trying to get the Soldier's attention.

"Are you listening?! You made me a promise!"

Suddenly, she was gasping in pain as the guard tugged her out of the room, hurting her broken hand,

"W-wait- ouch! Ow- hey, put me down! Put me _down_!"

Bucky threw the guard who'd been restraining him against the wall once he heard the girl whimpering in pain. The guard groaned, cursing in Russian when he hit the ground, and he pulled out some kind of walkie talkie, speaking in a language Darcy could not understand.

 _"The Winter Soldier has been compromised. I repeat, Dr. Whitehall, the Winter Soldier has been compromised."_

Bucky took two long strides over to the resisting brunette, who was still trying her very best to break out of the guards grip.

He helped her with ease, pistol whipping the guard who'd been holding her in his face, and punching the man away from her with his metal arm.

Darcy yelped in fright, taking a few stumbling steps away from Soldier when he turned around to take care of the next guard who'd come charging at her.

She watched as Bucky flipped the Hydra soldier over his shoulder before pulling out his pistol and delivering two quick shots to his head.

Okay, did it even _matter_ if he was on her side, anymore?

Darcy felt like she was going to _piss her pants_ , he was leaving a trail of bodies behind like it was the most natural thing in the world, and Darcy understood the fact that these were not _good men_. Really, she got that. At least, she'll keep repeating it to herself until it sinks in, but even then there was no way she could be comfortable watching this soldier kill so effortlessly, so emotionless, and just for her?

Who _was_ this guy? And was she really, _really_ going to be safe with him?

While Darcy was considering her options, Bucky was suddenly hefting her off the ground and over his shoulder, taking off quickly down the hall while there was a short lapse in gunshots.

She gripped handfuls of the Soldier's leather straps, at least this time he was wearing clothes. That made things _slightly_ less traumatic for her.

"My name's Darcy Lewis." She shouted in his ear, trying her best to be heard over the sound of the Russian's shouting orders as they tried to catch the Winter Soldier.

"You told me you'd help me. Do you remember that?"

He was running down the hall, stopping at times to kick the guards who got in their way, but Bucky's grip around Darcy remained secure as he avoided as many soldiers as he could. She buried her head into his shoulder when she heard another spray of bullets- they were _shooting_ at them now.

"I believe you." Bucky said, not quite answering her question. He spoke in a calm, authoritative voice, and the former intern shot her green eyes up to examine the Winter Soldier's face, taking in the stubble dark hairs on his chin, and his shaggy, disheveled hair. His eyes were sad, and blue, _so blue_.

Darcy had no explanation as to why this man was protecting her.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked Bucky in a gentle voice when he set her down once they rounded the corner of an abandoned hallway.

James was listening to the woman as he released the mag on his handgun, reloading the weapon before snapping the clip shut. He didn't even need to think about his answer.

"You don't belong here."

"Do _you_?" Darcy asked him, her voice small but tense, testing him.

This time, the Winter Soldier slid his blue hues over to examine the woman's face, taking a moment to answer.

Whatever he was, _whoever_ he was before he had his memory wipe- it didn't matter now. All he knew was Hydra. He knew he had to follow orders.

"...I do now." Bucky answered her honestly.

He also knew he couldn't shoot the hostage down, either.

Now, he knew he had to get her out of here. He'll deal with the consequences later.

Darcy's gaze shot to the tiled floor, her body tensing as she listened to the Soldier's response.

 _He was with Hydra._

What did this mean? To be honest, he didn't seem to know what he was talking about. He forgot who she was after a single night, for crying out loud. There had to be more to this man than just _Hydra_. He was saving her life, for Christs sake.

Bucky peaked around the corner to make sure no guards were heading their way yet.

"We've got to keep moving," Soldier commanded to the smaller girl after a short, silent pause.

He turned around to start leading the way down the hall, and Darcy abruptly pulled him back so he could round the corner back towards her, and Bucky stumbled from her sudden gesture.

She was looking up at him with bright, determined, glistening green eyes that reminded him of grass by the lake, and it threw Bucky off guard.

She grabbed a fistful of his tactical uniform, declaring in a proud voice, "Come with me!"

"Wh- _what_?" Barnes furrowed his eyebrows, confused by the girls sudden invitation. She didn't seemed fazed by his obvious hesitation, and pushed on.

"Yeah! Come with me! When we first met- I don't know if you remember this-" She was stumbling over her words, confused by the situation but willing to work with it, "But you, you helped me because you heard that scumbag torturing me. I don't think you belong here either! If you come with me, we can find out who you really are-"

Bucky's eyes were trained on her lips as she spoke to him. He was listening to her, yes, but he wasn't paying attention to a thing she said.

She was _beautiful_ , offering to help him so innocently, but she was also _foolish_ , speaking about saving him when she couldn't even save herself.

He placed his metal arm on her shoulder, pushing her down when when he heard the sounds of footsteps coming down the hall. The Winter Soldier immediately jumped around the corner, guns a'blazin' as he shot down the guards instantly.

Darcy hit the floor and covered her ears, and when Bucky popped back around the corner, he knelt onto the ground so he could be face to face with the scared young woman.

Her eyes were watery, and she looked up to meet his gaze, the Soldier's face just a few inches away from her own.

James tucked her stray brown strands of hair out of her face, speaking in a gentle but urgent tone.

"This is our only window, so we've got to make this work. I can take you to the train station, and make sure you are not followed as you leave. But the rest would be up to you, _krasavista_."

Despite his attempt at a calming tone, Darcy could still feel fear spike through her at the thought of separating.

"Then what are you going to do? Just go _back_ to them?! I don't think you want to be here any more than I do. Come with me and-"

"C'mon." Bucky scooped the brunette up into his arms, since she was taking too long to move, and their window of opportunity was closing.

He would set the _myshka_ free, make sure none of the Hydra men followed her as she escaped, and then he would turn himself back in.

The Winter Soldier was not foolish enough to believe he could escape, he didn't even know where he would _go_ if he did.

He knew Hydra would come after him, and that would ruin sweet little Darcy's escape. The least he could do was get her to the station and make sure she had a safe head start.

He finally made it to the entrance of the Hydra bunker, kicking the doors to their sweet freedom open.

Darcy was surprised when the doors to their sweet, _sweet_ freedom revealed to be a raging blizzard, with only miles and miles of endless snow.

"Where _are_ we?" Darcy shouted over the loud, chilling winds.

Bucky adjusted the brunette in his arms, keeping mindful of her injury.

"South of Ossetia." He told her gruffly, securing her in his warm grip. "Come on. We should be able to make it to the station before the sun rises."

Darcy shivered from the icy winds, and she buried her head into his chest, her eyes clenched shut. "That's only _if_ we don't freeze to death in the next five minutes.."

He didn't response, silently eying the shivering brunette against his chest. She was exaggerating of course, but she _did_ have a point. He couldn't take her to the station in this weather, when she was wearing just a T-Shirt, jeans, and boots.

He knew there was a tool shed down the hill, but that meant more Hydra guards to deal with. It also meant more weapons, and Bucky was running low.

If the Winter Soldier could secure the tool shed, which also held an armory inside, then saving the _myshka_ would prove easier than he first believed.

He didn't need to weight his options for much longer. James tucked Darcy tighter against his chest before crunching through the snow.

* * *

It took fifteen minutes of wading through the blizzard until they finally reached the armory. Darcy's lips were blue, and she'd long since stopped complaining, much to Bucky's dismay.

Despite the fact that he ignored a majority of the things that came out of her mouth, that didn't mean he wanted her to stop talking. She was still conscious at least, he could tell by the way her fingers occasionally twitched against his leather straps, and she muttered something under her breath about a bed.

Bucky sat her down in the snow, a few feet away from the armory, and safely out of sight from the guards who were surrounding the building.

"Don't fall asleep, Darcy." The Soldier ordered the petite brunette as he propped her against a tree, making sure her hair was covering her ears enough to keep her warm.

Her eyes fluttered open gently, and she slowly tilted her head to the side drowsily. "I can't feel my hands."

"We'll be out of the cold soon," He tried to comfort her, bringing his flesh hand up to gently cup her freezing cheeks. Darcy tilted her head into his palm, seeking the warmth that he's been keeping to himself- that traitor! And she let out a relaxed sigh.

"..think I'm freezing to death," She mumbled sleepily, unable to form a coherent sentence.

Bucky almost had a small smile on his face now- she was cold, but he knew for a fact she'd be alright.

"You're not going to die," He reassured her gently, almost amused by her inability to adapt.

Darcy let out a hoarse whine when she heard his somewhat catty response.

" _..Feels_ like I am," She groaned out between chattering teeth. It was official, Darcy absolutely _hated_ the snow.

The Soldier let out a breath of air, the hot breath frosting immediately against the chilled winds. Darcy could tell that Soldier set her down _somewhere_ , but she was too delusional to think of a reason why. Bucky watched as the brunette slipped in and our of consciousness.

Darcy held her hand protectively against her chest as she murmured sleepily, "The Winter Soldier.. it makes sense now."

The Soldier watched as she finally slipped unconscious. He'd feel better if she stayed awake, but he wouldn't take too long. Bucky pressed metal fingers to her temple, her skin cold as ice against the prosthetic hand. He leaned forward to whisper to her gently,

"I'll come back for you."

Before standing up on his feet, grasping his guns.

Darcy was unconscious, not catching the Winter Soldier's gentle promise to her as he left her there in the snow, gun in his hands as he headed towards the heavily guarded shed.

Darcy didn't remember passing out.

When she woke up, she was tucked safely in the Soldier's familiar arm-and-not-arm grip. She let out a whimper when her broken hand was squished between their bodies a little too tightly for her comfort.

After re-positioning herself, Darcy managed to force her eyelids open despite the numbing, icy chill that made her want to close her eyes and sleep forever.

She glanced up, examining the Winter Soldier's determined gaze as he carried her through the snow, his eyes scanning the road closely for any hostiles. Darcy buried her head into his chest once again, basking in his warmth.

 _'Is he on my side?'_ She still couldn't decide. _'Does it matter? He got me out.'  
_

Wherever it was he was taking her, it had to be safer than inside that Hydra base that she'd been trapped in.

Too exhausted to speak, Darcy muttered something against Bucky's chest that felt an awful lot like a thank you. He spared a quick glance down at the brunette who was nuzzling her face into his chest.

Darcy had slipped back into a state of unconsciousness, not even noticing the litter of Hydra bodies, men's who's lives he took just moments before he'd gone and retrieved her.

They would be safe, for now. The tired doll can get some rest while he equipped himself with more weapons, considering the fact that he was running low.

There was no turning back now. He would do whatever it takes to make sure she made it to that station safely. He desperately wished there was more he could do for the girl, that he could go with her like she'd so innocently suggested. However, Soldier knew he could do no such thing.

He was nothing more than a compliant weapon. And while the thought of staying by her side for however many years he's got left was a beautiful, yet dangerous thought, Bucky knew better than to put her at harms risk with his selfishness.

Hydra was _his_ problem, not poor, injured, beautiful Darcy's. She didn't deserve to be a part of this. He would do whatever it took to make sure he got her as far away as possible. And he didn't even know the gal.

His determined gaze flicked towards the armory as they finally arrived, and he pressed her closer against him as he spoke absently in response to her small thank you.

"Anything for you, doll."


	3. Chapter 3

part three

. . .

Darcy was startled out of her sleep when she heard the sound of a loud, abrupt bang.

She let out a little yelp and smacked her broken palm against the wooden floor during all of her fright.

Soldier froze abruptly, having just set a loud case of ammo on the floor and accidentally frightened the young woman. She looked confused, the last thing Darcy remembered being having been placed in the snow by Soldier, yet for some reason they were in some wooden safe house.

Bucky lifted an eyebrow at the younger girl as he realized she was staring at him with a confused look on her face. Darcy shook her head, snapping out of her sleepy state, clutching her throbbing hand to her chest.

"Shit, that hurt." Darcy complained, sitting up against the wall. "How long was I out?"

"Half an hour, at most." Soldier answered the former intern, turning his attention back to the case of ammo so he could examine what he had to work with. Darcy nodded her head, frowning to herself. It felt like she'd been in that blizzard for _days_ , when in reality, she and Soldier have only been on the escape for at least two hours now.

"Where are we?" Darcy asked once she realized the Winter Soldier was not going to make an attempt to explain their situation to her.

His back was turned to Darcy, a gesture that she was secretly grateful for because now was the perfect opportunity for her to size her ' _savior'_ up.

He was a large man, probably around six feet tall, towering over her five-foot-four-in-heels frame.

His shoulders were broad with a muscular arm, while the other was made out of metal.

He was intimidating. And the fact that he admitted to working with _Hydra_ didn't help ease her nerves whatsoever.

"The tool shed." The Soldier answered in his usual short, vague tone while snapping a fresh clip into his handgun.

He shifted through more of the ammo in some of the crates, and Darcy's eyes were trained to his back as he shuffled through the cases carefully.

Bucky could feel the young woman's eyes burning against him.

She was watching his every move, and it was becoming increasingly harder for him to concentrate when he could feel how frightened she was. He wanted to ease her nerves, he certainly didn't want the injured _myshka_ to fear him.

(Even though he had an inkling in his gut that she should.)

"You need to get some rest while you can." Soldier suggested, startling Darcy when he suddenly broke the quiet that washed over them. She could hear the occasional groaning of the wind as it brushed against the tool shed, filling their silence.

"Yeah," Darcy agreed with the Soldier, "And trust me- I'm tired as hell. But right now, I am _freezing,_ and it's not particularly helping _._ " She exaggerated between clenched, chattering teeth, letting her head roll back and thud against the wooden wall of the small shed due to her annoyance.

Bucky paused, glancing behind his shoulder to observe the smaller woman.

He wanted to kick himself for forgetting her lack of proper attire for this weather that he was almost immune to, and he snapped the clip to his pistol shut before turning around to face the girl.

Darcy paused mid-complaint when she saw the cold look the Winter Soldier was giving her, and she immediately closed her mouth shut once she realized he was advancing towards her.

 _Fully loaded gun in his hand._

The former intern couldn't help but let out a frightened squeak, backing up against the wall as she looked up at him with an anxious look on her face.

"What- uh, what are you doing?"

Soldier suddenly took a seat on the wooden floor beside her, and Darcy tried to scoot away from the impassive man. Honestly, she wasn't completely sure she could trust the Winter Soldier, and the fact that he was eerily silent didn't help ease her nerves whatsoever.

Bucky's lips pressed into a small frown, watching as the woman glanced at him with fear in her eyes.

Darcy gave him a side-look as he took a seat next to her, their shoulders bumping as he sat on the ground, only just a few inches away.

"What's this?" Darcy chirped in confusion, her voice trying cover her anxiety with feigned pep.

"What are you doing?" She found herself repeating, and the Winter Soldier made a big show of lifting his pistol from it's holster on his hip, raising it so she could get a clear view, and gently placed the weapon on the ground next to him.

Her green hues widened once she realized he was trying to ease her nerves by disarming herself, and her eyebrows rose into her hairline. Bucky then wrapped a heavy, muscular arm around her small shoulders, instantly heating her up.

Despite her better judgement, Darcy found herself leaning into the frightening Soldier's embrace- _holy hell_ , this man was warm.

She instantaneously pressed her head into the crook of his neck, letting her eyes flutter shut while she basked in her saviors warmth.

He was terrifying, there was no doubt about that. She's watched him take down countless men without a bit of remorse, and she couldn't help the fear in her gut that said she could be the Winter Soldier's next victim at any given moment.

"They made you forget about me.." Darcy murmured as her eyelids finally settled shut, the warmth flowing throughout her body.

This man was terrifying- ghastly so.

Yet, there was no denying the sudden sense of security Darcy felt when the Winter Soldier tightened his grip around her shoulder. She felt safe in his hold, and suddenly, the idea of resting didn't seem as terrifying to her as it did a few moments ago.

"I'm sorry." The Winter Soldier's response was short, but Darcy expected no less.

She nuzzled her head into his chest, unconsciousness slowly taking over her body. She let out a grumble when she heard his response in her sleepy state, and she mumbled to him gently,

"Don't let it happen again," She threatened through sleepy lips, before finally letting her exhaustion take over.

The Soldier didn't respond, instead running his only flesh hand up and down the injured woman's arm in a small effort to warm her up, his eyes glued to the door. He could give her maybe half an hours worth of rest before they needed to move on, and then the small girl would have to figure out the rest on her own.

. . .

Darcy felt a large hand shaking her out of her deep slumber. She heard an unfamiliar voice ushering her awake, snapping Darcy out of the nightmare she'd been having. She abruptly jolted out of her sleep, not realizing how hard she smacked Bucky's hand away from her, which had been gently trying to wake her up.

For a moment, Darcy felt as though she were still in that awful Hydra cell. That the whole escape had all just been a disappointing dream, an illusion she made in her head as some kind of horrific coping mechanism.

She froze when she saw the Winter Soldier's cold blue eyes, leveling her with that impassively neutral look on his face that, for some odd reason, managed to always calm Darcy down.

Bucky stared at the intern, waiting for the younger girl to catch her breath while she got her bearings back together, and Darcy sucked in a gasp of air, slowly regaining her consciousness.

She took a moment to glance around the room, embarrassed by her sudden outburst. "Sorry." Darcy apologized shyly, tucking a strand of tangled brown hair behind her ear with her good hand. Bucky didn'r give her a response, instead examining as the young woman slowly began to relax once she realized that it was just the two of them in the room.

Bucky found it curious that the pretty, defenseless brunette was able to let her guard down around him so much that she'd drooled all over his shoulder during her short slumber. She wiped her mouth dry and gave James a sheepish look, patting the damp spot in his armor apologetically.

"We need to start moving again. When we reach the station, I will get you on the train. Don't look back." Bucky announced when he grabbed a hold of his pistol that he'd placed a few good inches away while the girl napped.

Now that she was fully awake, Darcy felt panic fill her veins as she jumped to her feet, clutching her hand to her chest protectively.

It sounded too much like he was trying to tell her goodbye. She didn't like the thought of leaving him behind, of _not looking back_. He risked his life to save hers! How could she let him return to those Hydra-Nazi-Loving- _Freaks_ willingly?

"They're going to kill you!" Darcy said, disbelief in her shrill tone.

The soldier walked over to some crates to pull out more guns and ammunition, ignoring the injured civilian's worries. Darcy frowned, realizing the the Soldier was giving her the cold shoulder and completely neglecting her concerns.

In a much more persistent tone, Darcy stressed,

"They have to be controlling you, somehow. It doesn't make sense! You're not one of them, Soldier. You're a _good_ guy."

Bucky's frowned deepened as he listened to the little Myshka voice her concerns. She was so innocently naive, relaxing around him as if he were someone to be trusted.

Bucky wasn't even sure _he_ could trust _himself_ \- but there was no denying the strange urge he felt to protect this young woman, to make sure she is safe, and it's something he should probably be concerned about, but frankly, the Soldier liked the way she made him feel.

He wouldn't question his urges. It's been far too long since the Winter Soldier wanted something for himself.

Darcy frowned as Soldier snapped the clip to his pistol shut, responding to her in a vague tone.

"Not anymore, I'm not."

She froze, watching as Soldier headed towards the door, not giving her a second look. It took her a moment to realize he was going to head on whether she was following him or not.

Not wanting to be left behind, Darcy quickly rushed after the Soldier, her feet crunching in the snow as she ran after him.

* * *

. . .

The two trekked through the snow in silence, Darcy shivering through clenched teeth as Soldier paced a few steps ahead of her, his eyes squinted as he tried to look for the familiar cargo station. It took only a few minutes for Darcy to talk Bucky's ear off- ( _"Where is the train station?" "I'm sure we can come up with a plan that can save the both of us!" "Are we almost there yet?"_ ) before the Winter Soldier roughly told Lewis to save her energy for escaping.

Of course, it only took a few minutes of chilling silence until Darcy caved, and was running her mouth once again. "It's so fucking cold," Darcy said between chattering teeth, rubbing her hand that was not injured up and down her arm, trying to warm herself up. "A-a-re we-w-we almost th-ther-ere?"

Bucky peered over his shoulder so he could finally acknowledge the freezing girl. "We should arrive at the station in fifteen minutes." He explained, swiveling his head forward once again so he could survey their path for enemies.

He could hear Darcy panting soft, short bursts of air that made a foreign feeling of concern sink into his gut. "Are you alright?" The Soldier asked her without facing her, the concern voided in his impassive tone.

"I'm fine," Darcy grumbled, still upset that the Soldier was giving her the cold shoulder, and she muttered quietly to herself, "Did they erase your people skills too?"

Bucky cracked a smirk that was hidden to the young woman, and he responded over his shoulder in a dry tone,

"Probably."

Darcy let out a guilty sounding squeak, having not expected him to be able to hear her clearly over the sound of hard blowing wind. She quickly jogged the few steps that distanted them, and she kept up with Bucky's quick pace, walking side-by-side with him.

"So he does understand humor," Darcy teased with a bright grin, and Bucky shot the shorter woman a quick glance from the corner of his eye, struck by the beauty of her smile, when all he could remember from his life was the ugly.

Her emerald eyes caught his, and Darcy gave the soldier a confused look once she realized he was staring at her.

"What?" Darcy asked, confused. "What is it?"

Bucky grasped her arm and tugged her behind a large tree, quickly holding his hand in the air to silence her protests. Darcy snapped her mouth shut, her heart pounding when she heard the sound of an engine, and Bucky turned a stern look towards Darcy, holding onto her shoulders with his hands as he leveled her with a cold, stern stare.

"You stay right here."

"Wait-" Darcy gasped as she saw two snow mobiles slide to a stop just a few feet away from their hiding spot.

 _"_ _Their footprints end here_ _!"_

 _"_ _Secure the area! The Winter Soldier is around here somewhere. Remember not harm the girl_ _."_

They were speaking a language Darcy couldn't understand, and she glanced up at Bucky who was listening to the Hydra Soldier's closely. He turned his attention back to Darcy. ' _Why don't they want to harm the girl_?'

He was frowning, placing a hand on his gun and beginning to head out of their hiding spot. Unable to control her anxiety, Darcy grasped Bucky's flesh hand, pulling him towards her before he could reveal himself to the hostiles.

He glared down at Darcy with a questioning look in his eye, and Darcy's face was washed with worry.

"Be careful..." She pleaded gently, and the Soldier nodded his head, taking his hand back from her cold fingers.

"Stay right here. If I say run, then you run."

She nodded her head quietly, watching as he began to emerge from their hiding spot, a gun in both of his hands.

Darcy leaned against the tree, calming her nerves as she prayed out loud to herself,

"...Don't forget me again."

. . .

"There he is-!"

The Hydra Soldier was not able to finish his warning, much less point his gun in the Winter Soldier's direction, because Bucky was already delivering two quick shots to the mans head, splattering the freshly fallen snow with blood.

Darcy flinched from behind the tree when she heard the sound of the first two shots. She clenched her eyes shut, praying that the Soldier was alright.

Bucky quickly switched guns once he emptied his first mag on the two soldiers who were pulling up on the snowmobiles, and Darcy finally gained the courage to peek out from behind her hiding spot. She could hear the engines of several more soldiers approaching, and she could see the freshly fallen snow was already littered with dead bodies and blood from the men that the Winter Soldier took out one by one.

She ducked her head back into her hiding spot, chest heaving and rising quickly as she tried to catch her breath. She was scared shit-less, yes, but that didnt stop Darcy from noticing one of the snowmobiles that had stalled a few feet away from her.

Bucky was taking care of the last Hydra guard, but she could hear the sounds of another wave approaching. Throwing all sense away, her fight of flight instincts kicking in, Darcy jumped from her hiding spot behind the tree and pounced on the motor bike, revving its engine as she yelled at Bucky to gain his attention.

"Soldier!" Darcy shouted out just as he snapped the last Hydra soldiers neck.

His attention was on Darcy instantaneously, eyes furrowed in confusion. Didn't he tell her to stay hidden? The woman was proving to be troublesome, though he should have expected no less. Darcy didn't seem fazed by the sharp glare Bucky was giving her, and she slid to a stop in front of him, the snowmobile coating him with scattered snow.

She gave him a sheepish smile, "Hop on!"

Darcy revved the engine, and Bucky swung one leg over the seat, wrapping his flesh arm around her waist as he held his pistol in his bionic arm, turning around so he could shoot the engines of the new, incoming Hydra Soldiers who were approaching them.

"I thought I told you to stay put."

The Winter Soldier sounded annoyed that she'd ignored his direct orders, and she let out a nervous laugh when he squeezed his grip around her waist, perhaps a _bit_ too tight. He certainly didn't sound thankful, which Darcy could have predicted anyways.

"Yeah, we can cry a river about that later. After we _both_ , escape."

She revved the engine once again, and the two of them shot off, snow flying behind them. Darcy let out an excited whoop as the chilled air whipped her hair back behind her, and Bucky shot the engine of another sled that was quickly catching up to them.

Once they were in the clear, the Soldier skillfully reloaded his gun while simultaneously keeping his balance on the snowmobile when Darcy swerved around a tree.

"Is that all of them?" Darcy called over her shoulder, no longer hearing the loud hum of engines chasing after them.

She heard the click as Bucky reloaded his gun, before he answered her in a chillingly solemn voice,

"No. For every soldier we kill, two will take their place."

"Yu _p_ ," Darcy popped the 'p', clearly irritated by the Soldier's response. "That's how the saying goes. Did you learned that in high school, too?" Her sarcastic remark was cut short when she swerved around another tree before they approached a clearing, and Darcy could see a large lamp in the distance. "There! I see something- is that the station?"

It wasn't what she was expecting, the station was for cargo, but she figured it could work nonetheless.

Bucky turned around once he was sure they were no longer being followed, and he removed his arm from around her waist.

"Stop here." Soldier ordered, and Darcy slid to a stop a few feet away from, one of the train cars, and she looked at Bucky, waiting for his next instructions.

"What now?" She asked, jumping off the sled as she jogged to catch up with him. Bucky took her hand, much to Darcy's surprise, though she didn't voice any complains as she let him drag her so she could keep up with his much larger strides.

"C'mon," Bucky murmured as he tugged on Darcy's arm once they reached the third cart from the end of the train, and suddenly he was lifting her up, helping Darcy as she climbed into the train car.

Darcy tried to swing her leg over the edge of the car, wincing when she clutched the metal with her broken palm.

"Ouch- ow! Ouch- wait!"

Bucky placed his hands on her ass, pushing Darcy up so she could straddle the edge of the car despite her complaints. She let out a huff, opening her mouth so she could snap at him for rushing her, when the sound of engines approaching cut her off.

She shot Bucky a panicked look instead, anxiety numbing her bones once again as she realized she was really going to have to leave him behind.

"Come with me!" Darcy pleaded over the sound of the train's whistle, signaling it's departure. She was still straddling the edge of the cart, and she even considered jumping back out into the blanket of snow once she saw the Winter Soldier backing away from the train.

He gave her that same, cold look that never once wavered from his face since she met him.

"I can't."

"Please!" She was _begging_ now, the sight of the six snowmobiles approaching with two Hydra Soldiers on each rattled Darcy to her core.

She found herself fumbling with her words, her blood running cold.

"Please! I can't- do this without you-!"

Her begging was cut off by the sound of a bullet hitting the metal train, just a few inches away from her leg. She let out a startled scream, almost losing her balance and falling into the train before she quickly caught herself. She didn't want to duck down yet- she needed to see what would happen to her Soldier.

"Don't hurt the girl!" She heard one of the leader of the Hydra Soldiers shout in English, and Darcy's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

 _Don't hurt the girl?_ Didn't they want to kill her just a few days ago?

Bucky let out a curse, whipping around so he could fire at the snowmobiles that were rapidly approaching, and Darcy gasped as the train began to move.

"Soldier!" She was desperate now, trying to get his attention before it was too late. "Take my hand!"

Bucky swirled his head in her direction, and he looked as though he were about to order her to duck down and be quiet- but Winter Soldier clenched his teeth together as a bullet struck his shoulder, and Darcy's eyes widened in fear.

"Winter! Wait, no, hey-" Darcy didn't even realize she was trying to climb down from the moving train, but the Winter Soldier was shaking his head _no_ rapidly, and she froze when she heard his deep, raspy voice.

" _No_. Darcy. Stay where you are."

He was speaking through gritted teeth, his flesh hand gripping a tight hold on his wound. She could see the blood leaking between his fingers, and Darcy clenched her eyes shut, frozen on the train. She took in a deep, shaky breath.

 _'He did all of this for me..'_ Her throat felt like it was closing in. ' _He did this for me, and I can't let his efforts go to waste._ '

One of the Hydra Soldiers seemed to notice her escaping, and he started shouting in German. " _The girl! The girl is on the car- don't let her escape_!"

Darcy could hear Bucky hiss something under his breath, before he was throwing a blade between his fingers, striking the Hydra Soldier in his throat, silencing him immediately.

Darcy's jaw dropped open as she saw the sticky red blood between Bucky's fingers, yet somehow he managed to ignore his wounds while simultaneously ducking and dodging another spray of bullets.

The train began to pick up it's speed, and Soldier's body grew smaller and smaller, her heart racing as her opportunity to jump off the train and join the Soldier was growing smaller and smaller along with him.

 _She should go back for him_.

The Winter Soldier was a _good man_. Even if he didn't know it himself.

Tears formed in her eyes as she watched as James collapsed to his knees on the snow, outnumbered by the Hydra Soldiers who surrounded him. Tears burned in her green eyes as Darcy called out for the Soldier, hoping he would somehow hear her over the sound of the harsh, chilled winds.

"Soldier!" Darcy cried out, her voice echoing in the mountains.

The train let out another angry whistle.

Darcy settled down inside of the cart.

...She didn't even know his name.

( _He_ didn't even know his name.

They took _everything_ from him, and yet somehow, he still wanted to help her.)

The injured intern relaxed her back against the cool metal of the train-car. She wanted to rescue the Winter Soldier, but Darcy knew she wouldn't be able to do anything if she got herself killed.

Winter Soldier risked his life to save hers. She couldn't just throw it away.

With a newfounded wave of determination, Darcy wiped away her icy tears with her injured hand.

"I'll come back for you." Her voice filled with conviction, the young woman shut her eyes.

. . .

* * *

Darcy rode the train for half an hour before she decided she spent enough time licking her wounds.

Soldier had already warned her that he could only take her as far as the train station, and then she was on her own.

It would be nobody's fault but her own if she manged to get caught once again, and she was _entirely_ sure that next time she won't have a handsome, disoriented, brave soldier who, for some unknown reason, was hell-bent on helping her escape.

No, next time there would be no one to help her.

Darcy was determined there would be no 'next time'.

After half an hour passed, she peeked her head over the edge of the train she was hitching a ride on, catching a quick glimpse of her surroundings.

Of course, she was greeted with blankets and blankets of snow as they passed a few wooden pubs that looked relatively abandoned. She had a sinking feeling in her gut that there would be at least a handful of undercover Hydra Agents waiting for her at the train station, so she had no choice but to get off right now.

"Okay, here we go.." Darcy murmured to herself as she straddled the edge of the train once again. "I can do this. I've done crazier things than jumping off a freight train pushing 75mph. "

Her hair was whipping behind her in the wind, and her eyes were tearing up from the hard cold wind. The idea of jumping off the train wasn't what was bothering her- no, she was more than ready to ditch the transportation, but Darcy had no idea what she would do next.

She was smack-dab in the middle of nowhere, she had no cellphone, no jacket- no fucking _glasses_. Darcy took a deep breath, trying to regain her courage.

 _'One thing at a time,'_ She tried to reassure herself. When she opened her eyes once again, they were shining bright with determination as Darcy held her breath.

And then, she jumped.

...

Darcy let out a long, weary sigh of relief as she plopped into a hard wooden chair, an old desktop computer in front of her.

She was still in _buttfuck-_ Ossetia, and she checked four different shops to see if any one had a working computer- or a lousy jacket that she could borrow.

She had no luck until stumbling upon the fifth pub, a wooden old bar where an older woman was wiping a clean glass mug dry.

Darcy nearly gave the old woman a heart attack when she came stumbling into the bar, bringing the chill of the blizzard in with her as she stiffly made her way inside, nose dripping and teeth chattering as she said in a quivering voice,

"D-D-D-D-Do you guys h-h-h-have a c-c-computer I can u-u-u-use?"

Darcy was torn between wanting to cry, and wanting to throw her arms around the womans neck and kiss her senselessly when she quickly ushered her to the back room and threw a blanket over her shoulder, presenting her with their very old, but _very capable_ desktop computer.

"Alright baby.." Darcy said into a cup of hot tea, because not only was the old lady who spoke broken English kind enough to give her a blanket, but she also made her some tea, bless her heart. Once Darcy was done warming up, she cracked her fingers and tapped on the keyboard to wake the computer up.

"Let's get this started.."

It wasn't the first time Darcy hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D. files.

The most recent time that Darcy could remember hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D. was when Jane was moping in their lab, still mourning the fresh wound of meeting the love of her life, only for him to end up being some Asgardian Prince who returned to his home planet and left her behind. Needless to say, Darcy was not capable of handling those kinds of feelings.

Still, she wanted to help out her mentor-now-friend _somehow_ , so when Darcy found out about the Avenger's involvement in New York, she hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files to pull up the videos that were censored from the internet, featuring Jane's favorite Asgardian _God_ , and some close and personal footage of the Avenger's in action.

Darcy was good, so she never got caught.

Right now, she wanted to get caught.

"Alright! There we go!" She cracked her fingers, stretching her arms over her head with satisfaction. "Humph. That was easier than I remember.

"Coulson, you have to look at this.." Skye's eyebrows were furrowed in confusion as she watched the message that blinked across the screen. Soon, Coulson was looking over Skye's shoulder as he examined the projector; a pixelated image of a cartoon child crying over her scoop of icecream that fell on the ground, and some large blocky text behind it that said 'YOU LOSE' in big white letters.

"You lose?" Coulson read the flashing image on the screen out loud. "What is this, Skye?"

Skye began tapping animatedly on the keyboard, humming deep in thought. "Trojan Horse. I've seen it before, we used it a lot in the Rising Tide." She stopped typing, pulling up a map in South Ossetia with a red dot somewhere off in the right hand corner. She turned her attention to Phil, confirming to him, "It's a message."

Coulson pressed his lips together. "The Rising Tide? What message could they be sending us?"

"I don't know." She admitted shruggingly. "But, whoever they are, they're _good_. And I have exact coordinates to their location. I say we take the team and check it out."

The level eight S.H.I.E.L.D. agent let out a short sigh, holding his hands together behind his back as he straightened his shoulders, examining the screen some more. Finally, Phil Coulson nodded his head, agreeing with Skye's suggestion.

"You're right. Let Ward, May, and FitzSimmon's know we'll be on the ground in two hours."

Skye gave Coulson a quick grin before turning around so she could go let her S.O. know they had a new mission. Ward would likely be displeased with the fact that it had something to do with the Rising Tide once again, but he'd get over it.

Still, Skye couldn't help but wonder to herself.

'YOU LOSE'.

Were they walking right into a trap?

Well, Darcy was certainly disappointed by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s lack of punctuality.

It felt like she'd been sitting in that damned uncomfortable stool for fourteen hours, when in reality it was around three. Darcy had four cups of tea, and she'd contemplated shooting Jane an e-mail to check and see if the scientist has even _realized_ she's been missing for the past five days- but Darcy opted out, figuring H.Y.D.R.A. probably had access to Jane's email address, and Darcy would definitely have to enhance the firewalls on everything that they use when she returned home.

If she returned home.

Still, soon enough, a man kicked down the door to the pub and shouted into the empty room for everyone to stand down. It only took him a second to realize the entire place was empty save for Darcy and the owner, who was so frightened by the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent with a gun that she dropped the glass she'd been cleaning, causing it to shatter on the stone ground.

Darcy let out a sigh of relief when the man pulled out his S.H.I.E.L.D. badge, and commanded her to put her hands up.

She frowned, tightening her grip on the blanket that was wrapped around her shoulders.

"I can't. I'm cold."

"Hand's where I can see them," The man who's badge read GRANT WARD said through gritted teeth, his gun pointed to the floor but his finger on the trigger.

The former intern was now rolling her eyes, because with all of her experiences with S.H.I.E.L.D. (and there was more than you'd expect), each time they never failed in being tight-assed, stiff, sticks in the mud.

She let out a grumble as she unwinded the blankets from around her shoulders, glaring at Agent Ward as she lifted her hands, showing him she was defenseless.

"Stand down, Agent Ward."

A familiar voice came from the door, and Darcy nearly broke her neck trying to peer over the Agents shoulder so she could see who was speaking.

She knew she recognized that voice! Phil Coulson approached Darcy, his usual smile on his face as he looked at her with an amused look in his eye.

"You're Darcy Lewis." Phil acknowledged, and Darcy was unsure if she should be flattered or concerned that he remembered her name, considering she could not remember his. "You sent the virus."

"You still have my iPod." Darcy responded dryly, though she couldn't help but sound a bit smug. She was quite proud of her Trojan Horse, considering she did create it from scratch after all.

Phil gave Darcy a tight nod, gesturing to Agent Ward to put away his weapons before he turned his attention back to the young girl whom he'd met in New Mexico.

"Well, you wanted our attention and you got it." Coulson told the younger girl, putting his weapon away as well. "And I'm hoping that this will be good, and not just some other attempt at downloading the memory from your Cloud back onto your hard drive."

"Oh, this will be good, alright." Darcy said as she picked the blanket back up from the ground where she'd dropped it. She then proceeded to wrap the blanket around her shoulders and march over towards their giant freaking hovercraft like it was something that she did everyday.

"Let me just tell you what ** _I've_** been doing for these past five days."

Bucky tapped the fingers of his flesh hand against the wooden arm of the chair he sat in, chin resting in his palm as he waited for someone to enter the room, boredly.

He's been waiting for at least half an hour now, and it would really piss him off, except he was more curious to find out why Whitehall took him out of the ice at all.

He couldn't remember much. His last mission was in Argentina, there was some kind of ball, or gala, and he had to dress _real nice_. Real nice. James could remember the white silk tie, the black tuxedo. The bloodstains on his cuffs when he shot that victim in the head. Nice, clean shot. Real nice.

If he had a choice, he would ask Whitehall to wipe it all. Bucky didn't want to remember the missions. But he did. He remembered them all.

It wasn't strange he couldn't remember the last time they woke him up.

Hydra has used the Winter Soldier when they needed him for years, and when they didn't need him, he was on ice, frozen peacefully in his little pod where they could take as many tests and prod his memory as often as they wanted.

Finally, the door swung open, and the Dr. Whitehall came strolling into the room as if he _hadn't_ had Bucky waiting for half an hour now, and Bucky straightened his posture in his seat once he saw the look the doctor was giving him.

Whitehall's lips were pressed in a frown as he quietly examined the Winter Soldier.

Bucky remained still, looking up so he could meet the doctors gaze.

"Sir." He greeted him, and Whitehall gave the Soldier a curt nod.

Finally, Whitehall entered the room, pulling a seat out from across the Winter Soldier, folding hands against the table.

"Winter Soldier. It is always nice to see you are well, my friend."

Bucky gave Whitehall a silent nod in acknowledgement, and Whitehall continued on with business.

"Ah, you are far too shy. You must be aware, you are a valued asset in our operations, dear friend, and I don't believe that we let that known to you enough. I think it's time you are rewarded for your dedication, and hard work to our company."

The Winter Soldier couldn't remember much beyond the missions he's been sent on over the years. But he was quite certain that _this_ , a reward for his _cooperation_? Like he's had a _choice_?

He was certain that this was something completely new.

"..." Bucky shot the doctor a skeptical look, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion as his hair curtained his face in wild dark strands.

Whitehall didn't seemed fazed by the Winter Soldier's lack of response. It was expected after all, considering the Soldier never really spoke much throughout the years, so the doctor simply gestured to another one of the Hydra Agents who stood by the door, and the man dropped an envelope on the table.

Bucky glanced at the sealed envelope, and back to Dr. Whitehall who was watching him carefully.

"Well? Are you going to open it?"

Resisting the urge to sigh through his nose, because even a sigh was a reaction that the Soldier did not want Dr. Whitehall to witness, Bucky reached for the yellow envelope and quickly tore it open, emptying it's contents on the table.

A bundle of photographs slipped out, and Bucky's confusion was only heightened when he examined a picture, spotting an unfamiliar brunette who was smiling into the camera. He didn't realize as his hand reached out to turn over another image, the same brunette looking away from the camera with a dash of red on her lips, and then another of her smiling into a paper cup as she took a drink and-

"Do you like your gift?"

Bucky slowly released the photos, placing them back on the table. Finally, he met Dr. Whitehall's gaze, his blue eyes cold as he glared at the doctor.

"...Is this supposed to mean something to me?"

For some reason, Whitehall seemed pleased by the Soldier's response, and he pressed his elbows on top of the table. He spoke, watching James' face closely for a reaction.

" _Does_ it mean something to you?"

"I have no idea who she is."

Whitehall leaned back in his seat, and if Bucky knew any better, he would see the look of relief that flashed over the doctors face. "She can be yours, if you'd like."

Bucky's finger twitched. He shot his head up, glaring openly at the man who was in charge of his memories.

"You're sick."

Whitehall let out a humorless laugh, standing up from his seat as he headed towards the exit of the room. Bucky frowned as he watched him rise and walk to the exit. Whitehall paused, peering over his shoulder as he told the Soldier,

"You will soon learn that it is _you_ , Soldier, who is the sick one. The girl is yours, however, if you cooperate. I know you'll do what is right."

The door shut, and Bucky was left alone.

 _Shit_ , he couldn't remember a damn thing. Maybe the doctor was right after all, maybe he _was_ the sick one. Bucky didn't know how, but somehow Doctor Whitehall managed to choose an image of a woman who stirred something _sick_ inside of him. Something that had him blurring the lines between right, and wrong, until all he could see was _her_ , and _mine_.

Maybe he was _sick_ , after all.


	4. Chapter 4

**YES. THE TRAILER OF CIVIL WAR IS THE REASON WHY I POSTED THIS. YES YES YES. YESYYYSYYSYSYSYYYY.**

 **((*tries to watch other tv shows/movies that Sebastian Stan features in so I can have a better idea of how to write him***  
 **jesus christ this man is angsty as fuck))**

 **HI GUYS IT'S THANKSGIVING SO HERE'S A FAT ASS CHAPTER WITH SOME DRY HUMPING**

 **part four**

* * *

. . .

So, the fact that Phil Coulson is still alive is, _apparently_ , confidential news that absolutely nobody but the _know-bodies_ know about.

It was hard for Darcy to feel special about being a know-body, considering the fact that even after somehow being _revived from death_ , Phil Coulson still refused to return Darcy's iPod to her.

"I had blackmail worthy photos on there that were _completely_ irreplaceable," The former intern announced as one of the doctors on the hovercraft patted her wounded hand with some healing gauze.

Letting out a long, wary sigh, Coulson crossed his arms as he watched Jemma wrap up the intern to Dr. Foster's injuries. "Darcy, please. Try to focus on Hydra."

" _Alright_ , alright. Well apparently, they're still going strong." She said dryly as Jemma finished wrapping her bruised hand up.

"Stark got rid of one of the moles in his tower, but I think we're _way_ over our heads here. From the way those men were talking, it's like they have eyes _everywhere_. And I mean everywhere. There has to be more than just _one_ HYDRA mole in Stark Tower, and I have a feeling it doesn't end there."

Darcy was interrupted from her tangent by Agent Ward, who came into the recovery room unannounced as he called for Coulson's attention.

"Sir, Agent May said she needs to speak with you in the cockpit."

The level eight agent nodded his hand and glanced at the civilian sitting in her recovery bed, and he gave her a look that let her know he'd be back to finish their conversation. Darcy looked down at her freshly bandaged hand, raising it up and down to see if it still stung every time she moved it, and she was very much pleased by the results.

Jemma smiled as she watched Darcy stretching her arms. "Do try not to over exert yourself. And we'll have to make sure to keep you hydrated, you haven't eaten in nearly a week so you're as weak as a newborn-"

Darcy shot Jemma a look, raising her eyebrows daringly, and Simmons let out a nervous laugh as she quickly correctly herself. "..Ah.. a newborn who hacked S.H.I.E.L.D.'s datebase like it was child's play, after all."

"This is _just_ what we need," Agent Ward bit humorlessly as he glared down at the injured brunette who was resting on top of the bed. Darcy shot her green gaze over towards the man glowering at her, the look on her face asking in overtly loud volumes _what the hell_ his problem was. "Another _Rising Tide_ member. Coulson sure knows how to pick them."

" _Former_ Rising Tide member- but what can I say? When you're right, you're right." Darcy nestled deeper into the bed as she made herself comfortable, completely uncaring of the way Agent Ward glared daggers at her.

She had no idea what his problem was, but he had a clear disliking of her for no apparent reason, and Darcy would be damned if she let this SHIELD-Agent- _Punk_ intimidate her.

Agent Ward simply frowned, glaring at the intern before he turned his attention back to Jemma.

He opened his mouth to say something to her, when the aircraft suddenly hit some hard turbulence, causing everyone to rock back and forth from the after shocks.

"Woah- what was that?" Jemma asked, her tone dazed as she fixed some books that fell from their shelves.

Ward didn't respond, instead giving Darcy another hard look before quickly turning around and heading to find Coulson.

* * *

. . .

"So. It looks like we have some guests, team."

Coulson didn't sound completely happy as he spoke to his team, who'd all regrouped on the main level of the hovercraft to see what was going on, leaving Darcy to have a moment of peace after being held hostage for a week by Hydra goons.

Gesturing to the man who was standing behind him, Coulson introduced his team to his guest. "This is Agent Garrett, he's an old friend of mine. We were partners back in the academy."

Agent Garrett let out a loud, boisterous laugh as he clapped Coulson on the shoulder like a proud, older brother. "Thems' were the best times! Saved this guy's ass more times than you can count!"

"Yeah?" Coulson bit dryly. "Because I think I recall it being the other way around."

John Garrett ignored Coulson's comment, instead turning his attention to Agent Ward who had his hip propped against the bar, watching his two supervisors with interest.

"And if it isn't Grant Ward! He's good, ain't he, Coulson? You know I only gave him to you because I knew you would turn this kid into something great?"

Giving John Garrett a tight lipped smile, Coulson's eyes were filled with amusement as he turned to FitzSimmons who were looking more than just confused, and he explained their history to them. "Agent Garrett here was Ward's former S.O. When Garrett heard that I was putting together this team, he said he knew _just_ the perfect field monkey who likes being told what to do."

Coulson shot Ward a dry look, and the level seven agent rolled his eyes in return, clearly not appreciating being described as a 'field monkey'.

"But I suppose it all worked out in the end. He was a little uptight, until I brought Skye in. I think he just needed someone to show him the benefits of working as a team."

Coulson smirked at Ward, who clenched his teeth in irritation. Phil turned his attention back to Garrett, missing the tension in Agent Ward's shoulders.

"Now, pleasantries aside, Garrett, you're not one to just 'drop by'." Phil's voice was back to business as he straightened his shoulders, giving his former partner a wary look.

If Garrett could see the suspicious in Coulson's eyes, he chose to ignore it as he handed the man a yellow manila folder, snapping in to business mode himself.

"Seven hours ago, a hacking _terrorist_ managed to slip past S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database, effecting all of the monitors nationwide. Your team was the first on the scene, so we have reason to believe you've caught the culprit. I'm here to escort the hacker to their cell, Directors orders."

Coulson's lips were pressed into a tight frown, not bothering to check and see if what his former partner was saying was true, because it had Director Fury's seal on the cover. He narrowed his eyes at Garrett,

"There's been a mistake. Turns out, the hacking terrorist isn't much of a hacker, or a terrorist. I just need to speak with Fury and he'll understand-"

"These are the Director's _orders_ , Phil." Garrett cut him off, his voice clipped. "Speak with him if you want, but _I've_ already _spoken_ to him, so Agent Ward?"

Garrett turned his attention to Grant, who had his arms crossed against his chest as he watched the two older agents arguing. He frowned, looking at his old Supervising Officer, and Garrett's voice was easy-going once again.

"Why don't you show me where the girl is?"

Grant was hesitant, looking over at Coulson who's gaze was suddenly glued to the folder. Realizing that he was going to get no objections, Agent Ward stiffly nodded his head and proceeded to guide Garrett to Darcy's cell.

Jemma waited until both Garrett and Ward were out of the room before she let herself relax. Leo, her partner, was frowning as he watched Agent Garret retreat, before he turned to Coulson.

"Sir..?" Fitz began, wanting to object with taking the girl who seemed clearly innocent as hostage, but Coulson sharply shook his head, cutting the engineer off.

"Don't," Phil bit sharply, before heading towards his office.

Something was definitely off. The fact that Darcy had just began explaining her worries of Hydra moles infiltrating their operations didn't help him in the least.

He never mentioned the hacker being a woman, yet for some reason Garrett already knew.

Coulson needed to get in touch with Director Fury. Unless.. the Director was in on this, as well.

* * *

. . .

"Oh?" Darcy raised an eyebrow, her surprise clear on her face when she saw Agent Ward open the door to her room, and an unfamiliar man entered after him. "More company? You S.H.I.E.L.D. agents sure know how to make a girl feel special."

She set down the paper cup of water that she'd been sipping on, not quite comfortable with this man who made himself at home in the chair next to her bed without so much as greeting her.

Garrett let out a friendly chuckle, resting his elbows on his knees as he peered closely at the injured intern in her bed. "You've got some pretty useful tricks up your sleeve. You know how serious it is, breaking into SHIELD database?"

"Wouldn't know," Darcy shrugged him off, averting her gaze from the man. He was definitely giving her the heebie jeebies. "I've never been caught."

"But you _wanted_ to be caught this time?" Garrett asked blandly, lifting a criticizing eyebrow at the younger girl.

She shut her mouth closed, not responding. This was beginning to sound too much like an interrogation to her, and Darcy shot her eyes up to the other agent, who was observing from the doorway with an unreadable look on his face.

Darcy swallowed deeply, before turning her gaze back towards the man sitting in the chair next to her bed, brushing him off in a casual tone.

"Sorry, I have trust issues. Bring Coulson, I'll tell him everything he wants to know."

Agent Ward stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him, and Darcy could feel relief wash through her as she assumed he was going to get Coulson.

She heard the sound of clinking metal, and she whirled her head back towards Garrett, who was standing up from his seat with a strange smile on his face.

"Sorry girlie, but criminals don't get the _comfort_ of having options," He told her, snatching her left hand and snapping a cuff around it. Darcy's eyes were wide as she tried rolling out of the bed, but Garrett held her down with one hand as he grasped for her injured hand so he could snap the second cuff around it.

"In fact, where you're going, you won't be getting _any_ comfort at all. You'll be lucky if you get the option of choosing a nice, quick, clean death.. or maybe something a little more agonizing, nice and slow?"

Darcy was squirming and thrashing around to the best of her ability when both of her hands were cuffed, and she managed to kick the larger man in his chin and roll off the bed, hitting the ground nice and hard since her hands were completely useless to catch her fall.

" _Fuck_ ," Darcy groaned when her head smacked the hard floor, and she could see her vision doubling as she tried not to black out.

Garrett was rubbing his chin after she kicked him, and he watched as Darcy rolled out of the bed, crashing on the ground with a loud thump. He let out a startled round of chuckles, walking around the bed so he could help pick her up.

"Whoops," Garrett smirked, holding his throbbing jaw.

Darcy shook her head, her vision clearing as she felt the man tugging on her cuffs and forcing her to stand. She clenched her eyes shut, because _yeah ouch fuck her fucking hand_ , and she weakly followed after Garrett as the door to her room opened once again, and Agent Ward was looking down at her with a completely blank look on his face.

The two double crossing agents escorted Darcy down to the ramp of the airship, Darcy clenching her teeth the whole time. Something was off- where was Coulson? Or Simmons?

Her green eyes slowly drifted up, and she glared at Grant. Darcy's head was still ringing, so her words came out more slurred then she intended them to. "You're with HYDRA, aren't you?"

Grant pressed his lips together, and Garrett let out a loud laugh from ahead of her.

"Haven't you figured it out yet, darlin'? S.H.I.E.L.D. **is** HYDRA."

* * *

. . .

The Winter Soldier was patting the sweat from his face with the rag that had been offered to him by one of the guards.

His knuckle ached, the training session he'd finished with one of his newer recruits, Arkady, lasted longer than he initially thought it would. Still, the match ended as they always do, with the Winter Soldier as the victor, while his unlucky partner was rushed to medical.

He was in charge of training the soldiers to be just as lethal and ruthless as himself. It'd only be effective if he beat the sense of fear out of them. Again, and again. They worshiped him for it.

James flexed his bionic arm, curling the fingers into a fist. There was a crowd of awestruck soldiers as they watched Arkady being dragged off of the mat, and the Winter Soldier's face was cold as he examined the men to see which one would be next.

"You look bored!"

A voice called out as the gym door opened, and Bucky shot a fleeting glance towards the entrance, not recognizing the man who entered. His hands were at his side, not having the same aura of fear as the other guards did when they were in the Winter Soldier's presence.

The man approached Bucky with a friendly grin on his face. The Winter Soldier didn't return the smile, though that was to be expected. The man glanced around the gym, catching the looks of the Hydra recruits who were watching them with interest.

"Look at them all. They're watching you like an animal at a show."

The man had a cheeky grin on his face, speaking loudly enough for the other soldiers to hear.

"They don't have the guts to step in the ring and get their fists dirty, now do they?" The man was tugging on the collar of his shirt, yanking his black Henley off and positioning himself in front of the soldier.

"I've always wanted to see if the Winter Soldier was as good as they say. Name's Grant Ward."

"..."

Bucky was silent as he listened to the man speak. He watched with uninterested eyes as the man took of his shirt, getting into his fighting stance. The man certainly did _talk_ a lot, and James knew what that said about a soldier.

The Winter Soldier got into his fighting position as well, saying coldly,

"I don't _care_ what your name is."

Grant's smirked in response, and the two men stared one another down until Grant charged at the Winter Soldier, and the two began to exchange a fury of blows that had the younger recruits circling around the mat once again, watching the Winter Soldier in action, and a man who was holding his own against Winter surprisingly well.

It was when Soldier managed to trip Grant on his feet, sending the agent crashing down on his back, wincing in pain while Winter pressed his metal arm against his windpipe-

" _Enough of this, Soldier_." Dr. Whitehall's voice filled Bucky's ears, and he frowned as he stepped away from Grant, letting the man gasp air. The crowd of recruits broke away as the doctor made his way over to the mat, followed by a man who Bucky couldn't recognize.

The man was smirking as he walked over to Grant, clapping him on the back as he helped him up. They were speaking quietly to one another, and the Soldier heard the man ask Grant, ' _So how is he_?' and Grant managed to choke out a weak, _'The rumors were true,_ ' before Bucky turned his attention to Dr. Whitehall.

"..."

Bucky silently glanced over to Whitehall, confused as to why the doctor came down to this level. Whitehall was not the sort of man to get his hands dirty, and he very rarely left his office. The Winter Soldier remained quietly observing the doctor, knowing that the reason would be revealed eventually.

Whitehall seemed to be having the same line of thoughts, because he glanced around the gym with clear disdain on his face. He fixed the spectacles on his face and gave the Soldier a sharp look,

" _I am a man of my word, so I have brought you a reward, Soldier. I imagine it will be more than enough motivation for you to train our men. You can always rid yourself of it if it proves to be not of use to you_."

The doctor gestured over his shoulder for Soldier to follow him, and James tossed his towel to the ground before following after the doctor.

* * *

. . .

Darcy was snapped out of her daydream when she heard the door open in the room that she was being held in.

She was sitting in the floor, resting her back against the wall as she was trying to calculate how long she's been in there. Agent Ward tossed her into the room around half an hour ago.

Darcy was absolutely clueless to what Agent Garrett had planned for her. All she could do was curse herself, because Soldier risked his life in order to make sure she escaped that Hydra compound in Ossettia, yet here she was once again playing the victim card.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been waiting in that room. At least an hour of pacing the floor, almost tearing her hair out of her head as she tried to come up with a plan.

 _'What to do.. what to do..'_

By the second hour Darcy was sitting on the tiled floor, back against the wall as she stared up at the ceiling. Her hands were folded on top of her knees, head rolled back as she thought calmly to herself.

 _'If I can find a way to sneak out of here and find a control system.. I can change the codes to their locks and send out a distress signal to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters and-'_

Garrett said S.H.I.E.L.D. is Hydra. Did that mean Agent Coulson was involved? What the hell was she supposed to do now? S.H.I.E.L.D. had been her trump card, the one that Darcy figured was supposed to get her out of any kind shit.

She was on the verge of panicking, because what the hell are you supposed to do when you've been kidnapped for the _second time_ by Hydra goons? The answer was obvious, at least to Darcy it was.

 _You do what the hell you have to do._

When she heard the door push open for the first time in hours, Darcy jumped to her feet so she could fight the new comer. She was hoping it was Agent Ward, she's been itching to introduce the man's face to her fist since the moment he pointed his gun at her back in that bar.

She was surprised when a familiar face stepped into the room.

"Soldier...?"

Eyes widening, Darcy's jaw fell open. The Winter Soldier froze in the doorway, tense as he stared at the girl in handcuffs who was standing in his room. Soldier's face was blank, revealing no emotions.

It was a good thing Darcy was already used to the lack of emotions on the Winter Soldier's part, or she might have been offended by his blank stare. At the moment, Darcy couldn't care less about his lack of reaction, because her feet were moving on their own accord as she found herself running in the Winter Soldier's direction, wrapping her arms around his neck in a tight embrace.

"I-" Darcy nuzzled her cheek in the crook of his neck, tears swelling in her eyes. _'I'm sorry I left without you_. _I should have stayed behind.'_

"-I'm so glad you're alive." She finished her sentence, unable to voice all of the guilt she felt for leaving him in words.

 _'I'm sorry I got caught again. I'm sorry you risked your life for nothing, I'm-'_

The Winter Soldier's hands found their way to her hips, his strong grip on her waist as he held their embrace in place.

There was a short silence where Darcy was waiting for a response from Bucky, and she cocked her head to the side once she realized he hasn't spoken a word to her since he saw her face.

That was... weird.

"Soldier-?"

Trying to pull away from him so she could get a better look at his face, the Winter Soldier tightened his grip around Darcy's waist so she wouldn't be able to part from their embrace. He tugged Darcy into his arms, then the Soldier was crashing his mouth against her own.

Darcy felt as his metal thumb stroked gentle circles against her hip. The contrast was strange, his hard metal thumb caressing her with care, while he kissed her with so much force she would have nearly toppled over if it weren't from his steady hold.

She was too stunned to respond, but Winter Soldier didn't seem to mind her hesitance because he was brushing his right hand against her sides until his fingers reached her cheek.

She released a sigh of contentment through her nose as Winter captured her chin between his thumb and forefinger, tilting her head upwards so he could kiss her even deeper.

It felt good, his hungry mouth against her very much eager one. She certainly didn't have this in mind, but now that things were set in motion, Darcy was pretty game for a reunion kiss if that's the kind of reunion he'd been planning.

Standing on her toes so she could properly kiss the Winter Soldier back, Darcy teasingly parted her lips as her smiling teeth grazed against the greedy lips that were trying their best to steal her breath away.

 _'He's alive. He's kissing me. He's_ damned _good at kissing me- maybe we can_ do this. _We can get out of here alive.'_

Unfortunately for them both, the Winter Soldier's metal grip on Darcy's waist was beginning to bruise, so she pressed her palm against his chest and broke the kiss, gently nudging the Soldier away.

Her lips were swollen, cheeks flushed as she looked up at him from underneath her eyelashes, a sheepish look on her face.

"So, I guess that means you forgive me for leaving you behind?"

Darcy nervously tucked her wild strands of hair behind her ear as she looked at him. Soldier's eyes were as cold and blue as ever, but there was nothing that could prepare her for the next words that came out his mouth.

"Who are you?"

It felt like his words physically knocked the wind right out of her system, and Darcy withdrew from the Soldier's embrace completely, pushing his hands away as she put a few feet of distance between them.

"W-what?" Her heart sunk.

He had no _fucking_ idea who she was.

 _Again_.

"Wait. If you don't remember who I am, then why the _hell_ did you kiss me-?!"

Winter Soldier let out an annoyed tsk, glancing away in irritation when the girl stepped out of his embrace. He made no movements to pull her back, though he didn't step away either.

He wasn't sure _why_ he kissed her, just that it felt like it'd been the right thing to do the moment he laid eyes on her.

There had been an uneasy feeling in his gut when he saw the genuine tears of happiness in her eyes when she ran into his arms, and could you really blame a man for wanting to taste that happiness on his lips?

Still, the uneasy feeling was a weakness that he wasn't willing to acknowledge to a complete stranger, so the Soldier gave the girl a cruel smirk.

The smile that he gave her was a bitter quirk of his lips. "Why don't we start with you telling me _who you are_ , and _why you're here_?"

Bucky reached for the girl once again, cupping her cheek with his left hand. Darcy was tense as she felt the cold metal of the Winter Soldier's bionic arm, but there was a look on his face that made her blood feel as though it were running even colder.

His voice was soft and dark, terrifying her. "Don't even _think_ about lying. I'm not too fond of liars."

The girl shut her eyes, breath quickening rapidly as she tried to calm herself down and not cringe under his touch.

"Okay- wait, listen. My name is Darcy, and I... uhm, well, I kind of know you? They.. um, they call you the Winter Soldier."

Bucky took a moment to actually examine the girl, to _really_ look at her and not get lost by her pink round lips, pale skin, and dark brown hair. She looked weak, like she hasn't eaten in days, and he froze when he saw the handcuffs she was wearing.

"...but I think there's much more to you than that." Darcy finished, opening her eyes as she finally managed to regain her composure.

Suddenly, the Winter Soldier was grasping onto Darcy's wrist, yanking her towards his intimidating frame with a dark look on his face. Darcy nearly bit her tongue trying to hold back a frightened shriek, and she collided into Soldier's chest as he examined the metal cuff around her wrist.

"What are you doing-?" Darcy began, her voice quivering in fear as the Winter Soldier tugged on her wrists.

"Hush." He commanded sharply, silencing her from speaking another word.

He grasped her left hand with his fingers, squeezing the cuffs so tightly they dented, before Soldier tore the metal cuff on her left wrist without warning.

" _Holy fucking-_ _Ouch-_ asshole," Darcy tried to snatch her wrist back from him, the metal pinching and bruising her skin before he freed her left hand, and then he was trying to grasp her injured palm so he could do the same to the last handcuff.

Darcy cried out as the Soldier grasped onto her injured wrist, and she started begging in fear for him to _please at least try_ to be gentle-

" _Wait, wait, wait_ , on the count of three alright-?"

 ** _SNAP._**

He ripped the last handcuff in half, and Darcy cried out from pain when her bruised palm rattled against the metal before she was finally able to slide her wrist out of the cuff and clutch her palm to her chest.

The restraints were off, but _what the fuck_ \- he couldn't have been just a little bit more gentle? She figured she should be thanking him, but frankly Darcy, was annoyed as tears of pain swelled in her eyes, and she slunk to the floor in defeat as she nursed her throbbing wrist to her chest.

 _'What the hell am I going to do? He's dangerous and works with Hydra, he doesn't remember who I am, I've seen what this man can do and he_ will _kill me without a moments hesitation-'_

The Winter Soldier watched as the fragile girl puddled to the floor, her eyes pooling with tears as she seemed to be breaking down in front of him.

He was frozen, unsure what to do. It wasn't his intentions to hurt the girl, but he really needed to destroy those cuffs before she said something incriminating.

James took a step towards the pretty lady, guilt in his gut for frightening her. It was clear the poor thing wasn't working with Dr. Whitehall like he'd initially assumed when he first saw her, she'd clearly been beaten and was forced to be here, hence the cuffs, so the last thing he wanted was to further scare the little _myshka_.

"Darcy...?" He tasted her name on his tongue for the first time, remembering it from her introduction a few seconds before.

She froze when she heard him address her by her name, and the pretty little thing slowly lifted her head, looking at him with a look of defeat in her eyes.

Winter Soldier crouched down to his knees while raising both of his hands in the air so that his palms were facing her, showing her that he meant no harm. He didn't want to accidentally scare her some more because of his sudden movements, but he really needed to be closer to the girl. She was afraid of him, and he knew she had every right to be.

She didn't belong here, she was _different._

A strand of tangled hair fell in front of her eyes, and he reached forward with his right hand to gently brush it behind her ear.

"..I didn't mean to hurt you. Those handcuffs were being monitored. I needed to destroy them."

Darcy glanced at the broken metal cuffs laying on the floor while rubbing her raw wrists. She nodded her head slowly, a little bit hesitant, but she understood the Soldier's reasoning. Plus, he looked like he was feeling pretty guilty about adding more pain to her injuries, so there's that.

Why was this happening to her? She felt like her head was spinning.

Tears were in her green eyes as she glanced up at Soldier, gently placing her hand on his bionic arm, not paying attention to how cold the metal felt beneath her fingertips. She felt hopeless. Defeated.

"..Do you _really_ not remember who I am?"

"..." Bucky placed his left palm to her cheek, gently brushing away a stray tear that had begun it's descent down her face.

"I'm sorry."

Darcy let out an exasperated sigh, not offering him a response as she clenched her eyes shut, quietly pressing her cheek against his palm as she nuzzled against his cold touch.

James could feel his heartbeat racing from the look of disappointment on the young girls face. He stroked her cheek back and forth in a comforting manner as he asked in a quiet voice,

"Were.. we lovers?"

"What? No!" Darcy's eyes opened in surprise, before she was shaking her head, letting out a watery laugh. "Nothing like that. Honestly, I hardly know you."

Bucky rested his forehead against the brunette's, glad to see her breathing was evening out as she seemed to be calming down from her tension.

Her face flushed with red as she tried to pull her head away from his grip, but Bucky couldn't find it in himself to let go. He tightened his hold on her face, his hand slipping down so he could grasp her jaw, his thumb prodding her bottom lip gently.

"Good.. So we have that much in common, then..." Bucky was speaking softly, and Darcy's eyes slowly fluttered closed as she wrapped her smaller fingers around his hands, tilting her head upwards to meet his lips halfway.

Her pink lips parted gently, and he wasn't sure if that was an invitation for him to give them a taste, but Bucky didn't hesitate in dipping his head down and capturing her lips against his eagerly awaiting mouth.

The first kiss had been urgent, but gentle in an overly-cautious, wary way.

Now the Winter Soldier was having a hard time trying to remember why he should control himself.

He bit down on Darcy's lower lip, she whimpered and parted her mouth to speak, but he tilted her jaw upwards, thumb pressing gently on her chin as he licked at her lips soothingly, hoping to ease the ache of his uncontrolled bite.

Bucky could hear as the little thing let out a pained moan against his mouth, her fingers digging into his wrist as she let him nip and suck at her lips. Bucky was leaning into her, ready to lay the kitten on her back and explore her right there on the floor, but his plans were interrupted by a round of sharp, hard knocks on the door.

Soldier was frowning, turning his attention to the door as it opened without waiting for a response. Darcy pulled herself out of Winter Soldier's embrace, her face flushing with red as she brought her fingers to her abused lips.

Winter Soldier was up on his feet the moment he heard the door open, and he was over by the door frame so quickly Darcy could feel her head spinning, and Bucky was roughly shoving Agent Ward out of the room.

"Get out." He hissed through clenched teeth, the thought of another member of Hydra in poor, _frightened_ Darcy's presence was enough to make Bucky wish he'd finished his match with Grant Ward earlier, so the man wouldn't be interrupting his moment with the little doll.

Agent Ward had the nerve to smirk at Winter Soldier's possessiveness, lifting both of his hands in the air to show Soldier he was completely defenseless. "Steady there now, Soldier, don't shoot the messenger."

Ward was speaking in a flippant tone, despite the fact that Soldier looked as though he wanted to tear the mans throat open any moment. Darcy watched their exchange, absently wiping a stray tear off of her cheek as she stood up from the ground and slowly made her way towards the door.

Bucky gave Grant a long, hard glare before he eventually turned back around to face Darcy, pressing his hands against her shoulder to steady her. Darcy could feel her face heating up, remembering the way he kissed her so passionately just a few moments before. Soldier's face softened as he told her in a tone that held no room for arguments, "You need to stay here."

Darcy was already nodding her head, an exasperated sound in her voice as she let out a watery laugh, "Smart idea."

James could feel the side of his mouth quirk in an amused smirk, but he forced it back down. The Winter Soldier rubbed the pad of his thumb against her soft cheek. She was trying to appear strong for him, and he found it incredibly endearing.

"You'll be safe in here. I won't let anyone try and hurt you, alright Darcy?"

Her eyes widened when he used her name, and Darcy sucked on her bottom lip, nodding her head as she listened to him. She wrapped her fingers around his wrists, his fingers holding her shoulders tightly.

"..I know." She told him gently, and his eyes widened a fraction of a bit from her response, but Bucky squeezed her shoulder gently and let her go.

He turned his irritated attention on Agent Ward, stepping out of the room and into the corridor so he could question the man.

"Where's Whitehall?" Bucky asked in an agitated tone, clearly not wanting to converse with this man.

He needed to have a few words with Dr. Whitehall, specifically to figure out why the man thought it would be okay to put handcuffs on the girl if she is, supposedly, **_his_**. He didn't like the thought of someone trying to hold what is _his_ , hostage.

"Whitehall requested your presence in his office. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy you want to leave waiting."

Bucky narrowed his eyes, wanting more than anything to punch Grant Ward in the face one more time. Ward played completely oblivious to the Winter Soldier's rising irritation, and he gave the Soldier a knowing smirk. "If you're worried about the girl, I have the situation handled. I'll make sure nothing will-"

Ward wasn't able to finish his sentence, because Bucky was shoving him against the wall with a metal arm pressed against his throat.

"Yeah, you _will_ make sure nothing happens to her. Because if she tells me _anyone_ , _anyone_ treats her wrongly.. I'll make sure I finished what we started."

Sensing that he got his point across, Bucky leveled Ward with one last withering glare before he released the man, and marched down the hall. Grant fell to his feet, gasping as he rubbed at his bruised throat as he watched the Winter Soldier depart. "Yee-ap," Ward said in a raspy voice, trying to catch his breath. "Crystal clear."

Darcy watched the exchange between the two men from the open doorway, and she remained silent as Soldier left the room, leaving her alone with Agent Ward.

Her eyes narrowed down to a glare, considering the fact Agent Ward was the one who kidnapped her in the first place.

"So. Here we are again. You gonna push me off the bed and try to give me another concussion? Slap on some new handcuffs?"

"Those handcuffs," Ward said, gesturing to the damaged pile of metal on the ground. "Were for your protection."

"Oh!" Darcy's voice raised a pitch higher as she let out an obnoxious scoff, "For my _protection_! Gosh, that's just so darn considerate of you- **_bull._** _shit_." She spat angrily,

"You're the worst of the worst. Not only do you work for Hydra, but you seriously believe you're doing it for the greater good- and that, my friend, is the terrifying part."

"Listen to me right now, Lewis, because I'm not repeating myself." Grant said in a slow voice, his friendliness from earlier diminishing within a second. "Hydra? **_Not_** who I take orders from."

" _Oh_!" Darcy snorted in disbelief, sitting back on the bed so her knees were folded up to her chest while her back was resting against the wall, glaring daggers at Agent Ward. "Pfftt- like I'm going to believe _that_. You were so eager to shoot first and ask questions later when you caught me- something I bet you learned from _Hydra_."

"Something I learned from S.H.I.E.L.D _._ ," Grant corrected her in a sharp tone, "Which _S.H.I.E.L.D._ learned from _Hydra_. Garrett wasn't just spewing the usual shit when he told you Hydra's infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D, you know."

"So what? Why are you telling me this? Why should I believe a single word coming out of your lying mouth?"

Grant rested his elbows on the back of the chair he so conviently plopped down on, giving the intern a serious look as he said, "Because, Darcy. I need your help."

* * *

. . .

Bucky slammed the door to Dr. Whitehall's office open, ignoring the two Hydra guards who tried to stop him before he reached the door.

The Winter Soldier shrugged off one of the Hydra guards who grasped his shoulder to restrain him, and Bucky responded by reeling his elbow back and punching the guard in the nose.

The guard crumbled to the floor in pain while the second guard cursed at him, but Bucky was already kicking the open, frowning passively at the older man siting at his desk.

Dr. Whitehall simply glanced up at the soldier in is door frame, pushing aside the folders he'd been reading and gave the Winter Soldier an unimpressed look, lifting his hand to signal to the guards to stand down.

"Stand up and get back to your positions," Whitehall commanded the Hydra Soldier on the ground in a diplomatic tone.

The Hydra guard saluted before helping his partner off of the ground, and the two soldiers exited the office, shutting the door.

Dr. Whitehall pushed himself out of his seat, arms folded behind his back as he slowly made his way over to the soldier.

"I reckon you've received your gift then, yes soldier?"

"What are you trying to prove?"

James was glowering at the doctor. Daniel Whitehall had never been the kind of man to play games, he was straightforward and never tried to hide when he played dirty, so the soldier couldn't understand the switch in Whitehall's personality.

"I don't seem to understand what you're implying, Winter Soldier." Whitehall sounded curious, his headed tilted to the side as he tried to read Bucky's expression. "Was I wrong about your gift? I can have that resolved in a matter of seconds, my friend."

"Don't," Bucky cut the doctor off between clenched teeth, unwilling to acknowledge the spike of fury he felt at the doctor when he threatened taking away what was his. "Don't even joke around like that."

Whitehall seemed impressed by the Soldier's dedication, a knowing look in his eyes. "Ah, so I was right then."

Dr. Daniel Whitehall took a seat back down in his chair in front of his desk, folding his hands on the smooth table top as he said coolly, "Well if the matter is nothing urgent, why don't you seat yourself and tell me what troubles you friend-"

"If the girl is _mine_ ," Bucky cut Dr. Whitehall off, ignoring the request to take a seat. "Then, surely, understand my problem with trying to control what is mine."

"I do not _understand_ what you're talking about, Soldier." Daniel Whitehall pressed his lips together, his friendly demeanor slowly slipping into something much more hard with each accusation the Winter Soldier threw at him. "I have done nothing but stay true to my word. The girl is yours and yours only, if you do not wish to share. I have told you no lies."

Bucky clenched his bionic palm into a fist, controlling his anger with training that took years to perfect.

"And the cuffs?" James asked in a tone that said he already knew that answer. "If she is truly mine as you claim, you will ask for my permission before you begin monitoring her. Unless you don't trust me?"

Whitehall tensed, unfolding his hands and leaning back into his chair. "How could I not trust the Winter Soldier? You are my most prized possession, have you forgotten why I wanted to gift you in the first place? You allegiance to our operations are most appreciated my good man."

Dr. Daniel placed his palm face down on the desk, and his friendly gaze hardened. "But I feel it is necessary to remind you just who it is that gave you such a great gift, Soldier. I'm on the side of your best interest. But I do not appreciate being put under your scrutinization."

"I never asked you for this," The Winter Soldier expressed angrily. "I didn't _ask_ you to _kidnap_ the girl for me."

"I did no such thing." Daniel finally stood from his seat and headed towards the door of his office, opening it so he could gesture to the Winter Soldier to step outside.

"I simply gave the order. I'm sure you've familiarized yourself with Agent Grant Ward, and his mentor John Garrett? If you are so keen on keeping your girl safe, you will keep your eyes on those men. They are the ones who issued the cuffs onto your gift, after all. Now you will head to medical, and let our lovely consultant take a look at you."

James was frowning as Dr. Daniel Whitehall kicked him out of his office, shutting the door firmly behind him. The Hydra soldiers on guard were giving him a wary look of caution, one of the guards nursing his broken nose as he glared at the Soldier.

 _Grant Ward._ He sparred with the man earlier that day. Bucky clenched his teeth, wishing he could have finished their training match earlier.

Knowing he had no other choice, Bucky turned on his heel so he could head down to the lab and have his routinely session.

* * *

"This is ridiculous," Darcy expressed, shaking her head in disbelief. You're insane."

"Am I really, Lewis? You're a smart girl, so tell me. Am I really being ridiculous? Or have you noticed the signs yourself?"

"You're saying that the Winter Soldier has a special connection," Darcy said flatly, though her heart was pounding against her chest. "With me."

"It explains the reason why he broke you out of your cell. Twice." Grant shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't just say the craziest thing Darcy's ever head.

They think the Winter Soldier has some kind of infatuation with her? Why? Just because he helped her escape.. a few times?

"Maybe he's just a good guy. Maybe he can't stomach listening to an innocent girl being tortured and do nothing about it. Maybe he's not like you."

That made Ward crack a grin as he leaned back in his chair in a reclining position, looking completely too comfortable when Darcy felt like her whole world was spinning out of her control.

"Well, you're right about that." Ward smirked, "He's _worst_ than me, sweetheart. And _that's_ why Whitehall needs you., because everyone knows the Winter Soldier is just a fuse that's waiting to blow whenever he's not in stasis. And that's where you came in, Lewis. Think of it as... an incentive."

"Ha.." Darcy released a defeated breath of air.

If what Ward was telling her was true, and she still wasn't a hundred percent sure if she believed him, but that meant the whole reason she was back in the hands of Hydra was.. well... it was the Winter Soldier's fault.

"This is _fucked_. I don't know why you're telling me this."

"Dr. Whitehall has a plan. I can't- I can't go into the details just yet with you, but he's planning on using the Winter Soldier."

Darcy paused when she noticed the shift in Ward's demeanor, a pleading look was on his face.

"I need you to help me stop him, Darcy."

" _Stop_ him?" Darcy squeaked, startled. "What makes you think I can stop him? And why would I want to? You _kidnapped_ me! Right when I escaped from being kidnapped, _again_!"

Ward ignored her determination to make him the bad guy, and he said solemnly, "She's innocent. The girl they want him to kill. She's innocent."

Darcy faltered in her outburst, pausing for a moment to examine the double crossing SHIELD Agent. "Who? Who do they want him to kill?"

"Her name is Skye."

"Wow, it actually smells good down here," Darcy piped in a surprised voice when the elevator doors opened, revealing a large cafeteria with only a few groups of men who were all just finishing up their meals.

When Grant explained his situation to her, Darcy wasn't sure how she was supposed to respond. There was just too much information going in, when her mind was still reeling from the fact that they thought that the Winter Soldier had some kind of connection with her. But Agent Ward was right, she was a smart woman, and Darcy could see the signs.

There was no explaining why he helped her. When she first met him, what was it that he'd said? He heard her crying.

Whatever the hell that meant.

It was clear what it meant, but she couldn't understand why. Why her? Though she had to admit, she certainly didn't hate the attention.

He could break her out as many times as he wanted to.

Agent Ward wanted her to stop the Winter Soldier from killing some girl named Skye. It sounded reasonable enough, though when Darcy tried to question him further- like where, why, when, how? He clamped up, begrudgingly telling her that was all the intel he had at the moment.

Clearly, Ward didn't like not having a plan. It was easy for Darcy to tell that this Skye girl meant a lot to Agent Ward, so she found it just a slightly bit more easy to trust the man.

When her stomach growled loudly, cutting off their awkward silence after Ward filled her in on the reason why he needed her help, Grant suggested making a quick stop to the cafeteria, and Darcy was having a hard time seeing why she should decline the offer.

So she didn't decline, and instead hopped off the bed and commented on how kind it was of Hydra to offer it's puppets free meals, and Ward chuckled while explaining to her the necessity of keeping the men strong and energized.

She tuned him out until they reached the elevator, and Darcy made sure to keep a sharp eye out for any rooms that looked like it had a control panel she could hack into... just in case. If Ward noticed, he didn't comment.

When they reached the second floor, Darcy was surprised by the smell of garlic, onions and meat, nearly making her mouth water. She couldn't remember the last time she had a proper meal, not including the dry snacks Coulson had her munch on while he debriefed her on the aircraft.

"Not the rib-eyed baby heart buffet you were expecting?" Grant's voice was low as he walked next to Darcy, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his leather coat as his joking comment didn't match the way he straightened his back and scanned the room. Darcy watched him from the corner of her eye, peeking up at him as he seemed to be on guard.

She let out a rather unlady like snort as she began to grab for one of the plastic trays, "You know what, just for _that_ , I'm getting the _steak_ -"

Ward pressed his hand to Darcy's uninjured wrist, stopping her from grabbing one of the trays. She froze, glancing up at him with a concerned look in her eye, and Grant tilted his head to the side just the slightest of bits, silently warning her 'no'.

He reached forward to grasp a fresh apple, and when he was bent down, Ward told Darcy in a serious whisper, " _Don't eat the food_."

Grabbing the apple, Ward stepped away and handed it to Darcy, his regular smirk on his face as he tried to play things off. "I told you we'll grab a _snack_. I'll bring you some real dinner later on, right now I'm not finished showing you around."

Darcy grabbed the apple with a distant look in her eye as Grant placed his hand on her back, gently ushering her out. He looked over his shoulder to give the chef, who just so happenly was watching the two as they exited the cafeteria.

Grant frowned, and escorted Darcy out.

Only when they were stepping into the elevators once again, did Darcy start throwing her fit. "What the hell was that about?"

"The food is laced. All the soldier's eat it, but trust me, you do not want to get that shit in your system."

"Wh- laced-.. the steak too?" She asked, her shoulders sagging in defeat.

Ward didn't even bother to hide his amusement as he nodded his head at her, confirming with mocking sympathy, "Even the steak."

"Crap. Well, what about the apple?"

"Apple's fine."

"Thank Christ." Darcy bit into the red fruit, moaning in delight when the sweet, bitter juice met her tongue. Ward quirked an eyebrow down at her, though Darcy couldn't be bothered to be embarrassed, because this apple was damn near better than sex, and it's been so long since she's eaten something that actually tastes good and-

"How long did they keep you locked up?" Grant says in a tone that Darcy supposes she's supposed to take as joking, but she couldn't find the humor in it.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened on the fifth floor, which was confusing to the girl because she remembered leaving from the third floor to the second in order to go to the cafeteria.

Darcy shot Ward an unfriendly glare, "It's not like you're any better. You gave me an apple, thanks, but let's not forget how you nearly shot me on the spot and kidnapped me from Coulson's Party Bus."

"Like I said, the handcuffs were for your protection. I was monitoring the audio just to make sure the Winter Soldier wouldn't tear you limb from limb the moment he saw you in his room. The minute he destroyed the cuffs, I went to investigate the scene."

"Oh, you mean to check and see if I was still breathing?"

"I knew you would be." Grant sent her a cheeky grin, and Darcy huffed, annoyed. It was becoming increasingly hard to try and trust this guy.

"You were taking a big risk," Darcy said dryly, rolling her eyes as she took another chomp into her apple.

Grant gave her a cheeky grin, not missing a beat. "It was worth the risk."

"Glad to know my life is worth the risk," The brunette snorted, causing a few flecks of apple pieces to spray out of her mouth. "You should know, none of this is helping your case to make me trust you-"

She trailed off from her complaining as they passed by a lab, seeing a familiar figure sitting in a chair while a nurse was inserting a few IV's into his right arm. Agent Ward didn't notice how Darcy froze in her spot, the apple she'd been munching on slipped out of her hands, rolling into the laboratory.

Darcy watched in horror as her half-eaten apple fell to the ground, seeming to roll on forever until it came to a stop at the nurse's ankles.

"Lewis?" Agent Ward must have realized Darcy wasn't trailing behind him, and he turned around right when the intern went rushing into the laboratory so she could go retrieve her apple. Grant cursed, having taken his eyes off of the girl for six seconds and she was already trying to stir up trouble. He quickly turned around to go after her.

Winter Soldier had his metal palm on the pretty blond nurse's hip, and she was leaning over him as she put the IV in his arm, lingering close to him for longer than what was necessary.

The nurse didn't notice the apple as it came to a stop in front of her feet, but Bucky was already peering over his nurse's shoulder, confused blue eyes glancing at the red fruit before flicking up to the door, spotting Darcy's wide eyes as she examined them from the entrance.

Soldier removed his hand from the nurse's hip, no longer interested as he turned his undivided attention on the civilian, speaking first. "What are you-?"

"So.. This must be where they made you _forget_ about me."

Grant came rushing into the lab, an annoyed look on his face as Darcy was observing the many machines in the laboratory, each one having a specific evil function, she was sure.

The blond nurse finally began to realize that she had an audience, and she whipped around quickly with an angry look in her brown eyes.

"What is she doing here?!" The nurse snapped, addressing Ward. "She can't be _here_ \- get her out! Now!"

Grant was hesitant, shifting his eyes over to Darcy who'd approached one of the machines, observing it quietly to herself as she ignored the raging nurse much like a delinquent student in school would do their teachers.

 _'What's this... Zephyr Procedure..? Cryogenic stasis? Sleepers project?'_

"GET HER OUT!" The nurse shouted when Darcy peered closer to the monitor, reading the labels. The blond nurse swiftly walked over to her computer, punching in a few letters before the remaining monitors went black.

Agent Ward let out a long sigh as he walked over to Darcy, grasping her elbow as he began to gently, but firmly drag her out of the lab, "C'mon, let's not interrupt."

"Hmm.." Darcy pressed her lips together, examining the blank screen with a skeptical look on her face, but she figured Ward was right. Not struggling against his firm grip, Darcy allowed Grant to drag her towards the door, but the Winter Soldier was already trying to get out of his chair.

The nurse noticed how the Winter Soldier was trying to get up, and she pressed a gentle hand on his shoulder as she tried to speak to him in a sweet tone, "Not you Winter Soldier, please you can sit back down-"

"Let go of me," Bucky hissed through clenched teeth, pushing the nurse's hand away perhaps a bit too roughly as he brushed past her and stomped over to Ward, grabbing the man's arm and yanking him away from Darcy so he could no longer touch her.

Ward willingly stepped away from the girl, allowing the Winter Soldier to be next to her as he raised both his hands in the air defenselessly. "What, I thought you wanted me to look out for her?"

 _'From a distance,'_ Bucky almost growled at the man, but he was aware of how possessive he would sound over a girl he didn't even know. Still, when he saw the way Grant grasped the little _myshka's_ arm as if it were something he was _allowed_ to do, James swore all he saw ward red.

" **You** ** _don't_** **get** ** _to touch her_** ," The Winter Soldier said darkly, stepping closer to the double crossing SHIELD agent, instigating a fight.

"Hey!" Darcy cut in with an embarrassed squeak, stepping between the two men who were currently sizing one another up.

"Soldier, stop. It's okay."

Bucky's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he listened to the doll's words, and he gave Ward one last withering glare before he turned his attention to Darcy, completely brushing Grant off.

"It's _not_ okay. You shouldn't be out here with him, it's not safe."

Darcy swallowed heavily as the Winter Solder wrapped his hand around her arm, his grip gentle but firm as he glanced down at her with eyes filled with way too much affection, considering the man was hardly able to remember her name an hour ago.

She weighed her options. The Winter Soldier was right, she shouldn't trust Grant Ward. But she believed Ward when he said he wanted to protect the girl that he loved, though he hadn't quite worded it that way, it was pretty obvious to Darcy that he had feelings for the girl.

"It's fine." Darcy finally answered in a short breath. She glanced nervously at Grant, who was watching at her with an amused look on his face because clearly this was news to him, and Darcy decided to add, "I trust him."

The Winter Soldier struggled to keep his face emotionless, his shoulders tense from anticipation. She _trusted_ him? What the hell did that mean? It only made the Winter Soldier want to tear Grant Ward apart even more, but he could tell by the expression on Darcy's face that she wouldn't appreciate the gesture very much.

But still. She _trusted_ him?

"You're being serious?" Bucky asked in a quiet tone, his voice filled with disbelief as he stepped even closer to the girl, uncaring of their audience that was watching them.

She didn't pull away from his embrace, but Darcy didn't do anything to return the Winter Soldier's physical affection either.

This was fine by the Winter Soldier, because an unresponsive response was better than the little thing flinching away from him in fear, and he absently brushed his fleshed finger against her cheek without realizing he was doing so until it was too late.

She inhaled through her nose, leaning into his touch in a way that nearly had Bucky forgetting how to breath.

"I am." Darcy answered, shutting her eyes as his calloused thumb scrubbed against her cheek.

He finally withdrew from Darcy, remembering where they were and the fact that they had an audience. Bucky rubbed his hand down her arm soothingly, before gently guiding her towards the door.

"Let me take you back to my room."

"Winter Soldier, we were right in the middle of an examination. Please sit back down-" The pretty blond nurse began in her sickeningly sweet voice,

"I'm done here," Bucky said sharply, cutting the nurse off from her pleas as he turned around and shot her a sharp glare. The nurse quickly shut her mouth, frightened of the Winter Soldier's sharp tone.

Darcy's eyebrows were raised up to her hair line as she saw Winter Soldier snap at the nurse, and she placed a gentle, reassuring hand on his arm to try and calm his temper.

"Soldier, _it's okay_." Her eyebrows furrowed together in deep thought, and then Darcy was pressing her chest against his arm without even realizing it so she could whisper to him gently, "...Don't do anything to get us in trouble. Me and Agent Ward can handle things for right now."

The Winter Soldier gritted his teeth together, burning with jealousy at the way Darcy so eagerly partnered herself with Grant. Bucky thought he disliked the man from the confident way he introduced himself during their sparring match, but somehow his hatred for the Agent doubled tenfold.

Still. He couldn't take his irrational anger out on the little doll, especially with the way she was pressed against him, looking up into his eyes with worry on her face. The girl was right, he needed to follow his duties or Whitehall would mess everything up.

"...Try and keep safe, _krasavitsa_." Bucky gave in, speaking softly to the brunette as her face relaxed, and she gave him a small smile. He could feel himself calming down from her innocent smile, but he still didn't like the thought of letting her stay with Ward.

Bucky ducked his forehead down, resting it against her shoulder. _"Tell me_ if anything happens. I don't trust him."

"So trust me, okay?" She asked gently, stepping back so she could look into his eyes. Soldier remained silent as he held Darcy's gaze, giving her a slight nod of his head.

Grant cleared his throat, successfully interrupting their moment. "Alrighty then. Next stop is the showers."

Bucky shot Grant a glare, and Darcy resisted the urge to roll her eyes because she just managed to calm him down, and it was like Ward was trying to rile the Winter Soldier back up! She quickly tried to change the subject, "We'll talk more later, okay?"

"..." Soldier didn't respond, his mouth pressed together in an agitated line.

She wasn't expecting a response, instead Darcy gave Winter Soldier one last meaningful look before she nodded her head towards Ward and exited the lab.

Bucky glared daggers into Grant's back as he followed behind _his_ girl, and once the two left, it was just the Winter Soldier and his nurse once again.

The blond nurse, who was trying to regain her composure after being frightened by the Winter Soldier, began to re-attach the IV's with shaky hands.

Once Darcy was sure they were out of hearing distance, she quickly turned around and abruptly shoved Grant against the wall. The SHIELD Agent looked startled as his back hit the concrete wall with a hard 'thud', but his eyes flashed with amusement as he quirked an eyebrow down at Darcy, as if waiting to see what her next move would be.

"You want me to help protect your little girl friend from the Winter Soldier, yeah?" She asked in a determined voice, jabbing a finger into Grant's chest. "Well, I'm going to need you to do something for me, first."

The amusement faded from Grant's eyes as he was now staring down at the girl with a darker look, not appreciating being blackmailed. Still, he kept his mouth shut, knowing that Lewis was the only one who could protect Skye from the Winter Soldier.

"If you're asking for me to break you out, even I can't do that." Ward spat bitterly.

Darcy shook her head, brushing off his comment. "No. Not that. What I need for you to do, is find out who the Winter Soldier really is."

Grant seemed to relax once he realized that she wasn't asking him to do the impossible. Just _next_ to the impossible.

Still, Ward was up for the challenge. "Done. Give me twenty four hours."

Nodding her head in agreement, Darcy stepped away from Grant, wrapping her arms around herself in a comforting manner as she tried to keep her thoughts from running wild. She needed a plan, only this time she wasn't going to settle for saving just herself.

No, this was a rescue mission. The Winter Soldier was coming with her, whether he liked it or not.

(She really, _really_ hoped he would like it.)

Freshly showered and munching on a new, fresh apple, Darcy sat in the uncomfortable armchair that was in the corner of the Winter Soldier's small, private quarters.

Grant showed her back to the room after showing her the communal showers, keeping watch outside while she freshened up and cleaned all the dirt, grime, and blood from her skin. Once he escorted her back to the Winter Soldier's room, Ward explained that his best bet at gaining intel on Soldier would be from Garrett, and Darcy agreed that he should begin immediately.

And then, she was alone. For hours, waiting for the Winter Soldier to finish whatever business it was that he had to get done before he could return back to his quarters. Darcy found herself dozing off, head resting in her arms as she slept at the small desk, waking up several times wondering what the time was.

Once Darcy was sure it was night-time, she could feel the beginnings of panic bubbling in her gut. Where was Soldier? Was this all just a trick? Was he really on her side? Was Grant lying to her? Were they going to keep her locked in here for-

The door opened, and Darcy stumbled to her feet in her sleepy daze, stubbing her pinkie toe into the wooden desk due to her haste.

"Fuck!" She winced, cursing to herself as she felt tears burn in her eyes because of the pain.

She shook her head, steadying herself as Winter Soldier stepped into the room, his eyebrows furrowed, worried as he took two long strides over to the girl, cupping his right hand to her cheek so he could examine her face.

"Are you alright?" He asked in a serious voice, his tone laced with worry.

Darcy's face flushed from embarrassment, batting his concerned hands away as she looked away shyly mixed with annoyance. "What? Yes- _God_ , what took you so long? I thought- I thought you weren't going to come back."

He was irritated that she was brushing away his concerns, but he could hear it in the little _myshka_ 's voice that she'd been afraid of being alone for so long, and Bucky was reaching out for the girl once again, despite the fact she'd already brushed him away once.

"Why wouldn't I come back?" The Winter Soldier asked in a soft, absent minded tone as his thumb brushed against Darcy's earlobe, tucking some hair back in place. She glanced away shyly, her face burning from embarrassment when she shivered in pleasure, and he wanted to do nothing more than kiss her right now.

Darcy was looking anywhere but the Winter Soldier's knowing blue eyes, because she was trying her _absolute best_ not to nuzzle her face against his palm, and she was afraid she was failing miserably. She managed to come up with all kinds of different scenarios while she was waiting for him to return back to her- Did they erase his memories again? Was he getting into trouble? Or maybe he needed to go back to the pretty blond nurse for another _check up_ , or something.

That last thought made her feel more uncomfortable than it probably should. Still refusing to meet his gaze, Darcy tried to sound casual as she said flippantly, "I don't know. Distracted?"

Winter Soldier decided that he could watch the pretty little things facial expressions for the rest of his life and never get bored. Darcy's cheeks were red as she absolutely refused to meet his gaze, and Soldier could feel his mouth tugging into a proud smirk as he heard the underlying bitterness in her tone.

He wrapped his left arm around her waist, deciding that he wanted to hold the doll close whether she liked it or not. He caught her chin with his thumb and forefinger, tilting her head up so she was forced to look at his face.

The Winter Soldier wore a shit-eating grin that made Darcy feel as though she was going to catch on fire and burn right there.

"Are you jealous?"

"What!" Darcy squeaked, sounding genuinely shocked. "Of what? Because you've got a thing for pretty, slim blond nurses? Sorry dude, but I hardly know you."

Still, the girl's embarrassed expression was enough to make Winter Soldier feel confident, and he couldn't help the way his voice dropped an octave lower as he stroked the outline of her bottom lip with his thumb.

"I thought about you all day. But I couldn't finish training early."

Darcy could feel her heart thumping faster against her chest as she heard the Winter Soldier's confession, and she wasn't sure how she was able to form a coherent thought with his fingers on her lips like that, but she managed.

"Training?" She asked absently.

Soldier smirked, absolutely _loving_ how receptive the girl was to his touch.

"Yes." He pressed down on her bottom lip, watching how her pink lips parted for him willingly. "I train the soldiers. Although today I couldn't get much done. My concentration was on something else."

"Mmmh.." Darcy's eyes finally fluttered shut, her resolve weakening as she tilted her head up, wanting to hear him speak to her _forever_. "..and what was that?"

"Hmm. Well. I met a _beautiful_ girl this morning. Absolutely stunning. And the first thing she did when she saw me was run into my arms, and then she told me she was glad I'm alive."

Darcy peeked from underneath her eyelashes up at the Soldier, a bashful smile spreading across her face as she saw the way he was looking down at her. Bucky smirked when he saw a glimpse of emerald green under her thick eyelashes, and he brought his palm back to her face and gently stroked her cheekbone.

" _I haven't stopped thinking about her since_ ," Bucky finished in a deep, husky voice, and then he was ducking his head down to steal a kiss from the doll once again.

She was responding immediately, standing on her toes so she could kiss him back, tilting her head to the side as Darcy eagerly parted her lips so she could capture the Winter Soldier's bottom lip between her teeth.

The deep, throaty growl that the Winter Soldier released in response to her playful nipping had Darcy _aching_ , and Soldier wrapped his arm around her waist so he was holding her properly, the feeling of her soft breasts against his chest had him letting out delicious chuckle in the midst of their kiss.

When she felt Soldier's hot tongue brush against her teeth, Darcy's heart skipped a beat as she silently gasped, unknowingly opening her mouth for him. Soldier took the invitation eagerly, his left hand sliding up her side until he was cupping her other cheek with his metal palm, holding Darcy still as the Winter Soldier caged her into their kiss.

Darcy pulled back, gasping for air before Soldier crashed his mouth on hers again, dominantly making out with the girl as he snatched her bottom lip between his teeth and _sucked_.

She let out a pained whimper that snapped Bucky from his rapidly growing arousal. He wanted more than anything to throw the little thing down on his bed, hell, the ground would work as well- he just needed to taste her, because now that he's gotten it, he wasn't sure he would ever have enough.

But she was fragile, and she didn't deserve to be taken in such a greedy manner, even if he was certain he could make her love every _single second_ of it.

He broke the kiss, glancing down at the girl to make sure she was okay. Darcy seemed fine, though her eyes were still shut as she was in a daze from having the best makeout session of her life. Her eyes slowly fluttered opened, and she gave him a cheeky grin.

"You were talking about me, right?" She grinned jokingly.

However, Winter Soldier's eyes softened when he heard the undertone insecurity in her voice.

Whatever Darcy saw in the lab between him and that nurse wasn't what she thought it was- and even if it _was_ what she thought it was, it wasn't _anywhere_ near as nice as what he had with her.

" _Only_ you, Darcy."

He bent down to give her a gentle kiss on her swollen lips, unable to control himself.

Darcy brought her palm to his chest, pushing him away before he was able to do so. "Wait."

Bucky's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, unsure of what the problem was.

Darcy was shaking her head, withdrawing from him with a worried look on her face. "Just.. wait, okay? Ward says that Dr. Whitehall wants me here because we have a 'connection'."

He felt a wave of irrational fury wash through him at the mention of Grant's name. Buck _definitely_ didn't want to think about that prick, especially when he was trying to kiss the flustered brunette who kept backing away from him. His bionic fist twitched with irritation.

"I don't trust anything that bastard says. He's the one who put the handcuffs on you."

"I know, and I had a few words with him about that." Darcy said flippantly, as if it were no big deal. Bucky felt another pang of annoyance, and he was now gritting his teeth together. "But ** _I_** trust him, Soldier, and I need you to trust me on this!" Darcy continued, oblivious to Soldier's rising agitation.

Suddenly, all Darcy could feel was hands on her hips as the Winter Soldier quickly picked her up, striding a few steps over to where his bed was, and then threw her down. She landed on her back, bouncing on the bed a few times before she propped herself up on her elbow, watching as Soldier folded himself on top of her.

" _Why_ , do you trust him, Darcy?" Soldier asked darkly, towering over her as he held her down on the bed.

He buried his head into her shoulder, and Darcy submissively tilted her head to the side when she felt him press a soft kiss against her neck. He gathered all of her hair on the right side of her shoulder, before pressing another, much more persistent kiss to her skin.

"S-Soldier.." Darcy gasped, unwillingly bucking against him when he began to gentley suck on her rapidly increasing pulse. He hummed in approval, cutting her off from whatever she was going to say to try and explain herself.

"You think he can protect you better than I can?" Soldier asked, his voice thick with jealousy.

He didn't wait for a response, too busy bringing the flat of his tongue down on her neck, lapping her skin in deep, long strong strokes, stopping just behind her ear, opening his mouth to suck on the sensitive flesh. "I'd kill anyone who tried to hurt you, Darcy. You have to understand. You don't belong here."

Darcy closed her eyes, her heart thudding as she listening to the Winter Soldier voice his affection for her when she hardly even knew the man. Yet here she was, letting him suck hickies all down her neck, and she was loving every second of it.

"T-That's what you said- _ahh_ -nnn," Darcy clenched her eyes shut, throwing her head back when Soldier nipped on her earlobe. "-whe _nnn_.. when we first met.. then you saved my life."

"I meant it. And I'll do it again." Winter Soldier stopped his assault on her neck, burying his head into her shoulder as he confessed, "Whitehall made arrangements for you to be brought here as a gift for me. He said you were mine, if I follow orders."

Her eyes opened wide, not realizing that Winter Soldier was already aware of this creepy arrangement that Ward had told her about. Suddenly, the pressure of Winter Soldier's body pinning her down on the bed was becoming suffocating.

"I-I'm _not_ , though." Darcy said gently, just in case he forgot. " _Yours_ , I mean."

Soldier's voice was muffled against her shoulder, but she could feel the vibrations of his deep chuckles. "You're right, _krasavitsa_. You are not mine's to keep, however much I may want to.." He finally raised his head from her shoulder, his prior annoyance and agitation now gone as he gazed down at the girl who lay underneath him.

"I need to get you out of here. Which I can do _without_ the help of Grant Ward, but you can tell him thanks anyways."

Darcy's eyes widened from shock, her heart thumping against her chest. Winter Soldier's eyes were dark with lust, but honest as well.

She knew what would happen next- Winter Soldier would do whatever it takes to set her free, only to stay behind himself.

And then she'd just get captured by Hydra once again, because apparently they were **_everywhere_**.

Finally relaxing into the bed, Darcy spread her legs so she could feel Soldier against her heat, pulling him down closer against her.

She couldn't believe she was just realizing that he was jealous- of Agent Ward of all people! And Darcy wanted to tease him, especially after his comment earlier about her being jealous of the nurse, but she decided she could bring it up another time.

Instead, Darcy placed her hands on either side of Soldier's cheeks, gently pulling his face down to hers so she could gently brush her lips against his.

"I'm not going anywhere. Not without you." _Not again._

"Darce..." Soldier muttered, surprised by such a gentle kiss. He blinked his eyes slowly, looking down at her with half lidded eyes. "You don't know what you're saying."

She knew exactly what she was saying. She just wasn't saying it out loud.

 _This time, I'll save you._

Smiling at the awestruck look on the Soldier's face, Darcy dug her heels into the mattress, grinding her dampening core against his crotch. She could feel him twitch at the contact, his member slowly hardening, and so she repeated the movement again with a bit more force, causing a startled curse to stumble from Winter Soldier's lips, followed by her name in the same panted breath.

"Kiss me?" Darcy asked, batting her eyelashes demurely at Soldier, effectively switching the subject. She didn't need to ask twice, because Bucky's hungry lips were kissing hers, his left hand sliding over the fabric of her jeans as he felt up her legs.

Winter Soldier hummed into Darcy's mouth, gently humping his hips against her, testing for her reaction. She spread her knees wider, pressing into the mattress so she could meet his thrust.

" _Fuckk_ , Darcy.."

"Hmm?" She smiled into the kiss, arching her back as she felt Soldier's metal hand slide up her thigh, cold fingers slipping underneath the top she'd been given. Darcy gasped in pleasure as his cool touched eased her overly heated body, and Bucky broke their kiss as he pulled back to look down at her, examining her face.

"Too cold?" He asked gently, his voice filled with concern as he gently rubbed his metal thumb against the flesh that peeked out from the hem of her shirt.

Darcy tilted her head back into the pillow, gasping at the feeling of his cool fingers.

"It's different. Different's good."

"Good?"

He repeated after her, and she didn't even need to look at his face in order to see the smug look that he was wearing. Soldier slid his left hand up Darcy's side, pushing her shirt up as he stopped at her rib-cage, his thumb gently pressing against the top of her breast.

She let out a long, wantonly sound at his caress, and Darcy wrapped her legs around Soldier's waist while grinding against him, feeling the bulge of his erection as it bumped against the seam of her jeans, pressing into her clit.

"Yes, God- _sooo_ good."

"Beautiful," Bucky praised, his mouth pressed against her throat. He was sliding his left hand up and down her side, letting her heated skin warm the metal of his palm.

She rocked her hips against his, which Bucky found to be way hotter than it should be, but he was having a hard time believing such a beautiful, pure, innocent thing such as herself would be panting from lust underneath him.

He needed more of her. He needed more of Darcy's aroused whimpers from his touch, and so the Winter Soldier latched his mouth over her hardened nipple, sucking on it from over the fabric of her shirt.

"Fffuhh- unnnh!" Darcy gasped, her face flushing red from pleasure, mixed with embarrassment. "Winter.. W-wait.. What are you doing..?" She panted, pressing her hand on his shoulder to catch his attention.

He hummed in acknowledgement, the vibrations shuddering against her peaked nipple that he flicked back and forth from over her shirt, and Soldier tilted his head up so he could meet her gaze while circling the bud with the tip of his tongue.

"Mmm, making you feel good."

"W-we should stop.." Her head was fuzzy, especially since he wouldn't stop pressing kisses against her breast, already switching to her neglected nipple.

"Why?" Soldier asked, now grazing his teeth against the soft flesh of her breast, kissing her from over her shirt. "You're so close..."

Her face flushed with embarrassment- because how the hell could he tell she was so fucking close to peaking that it was ridiculous?

She abruptly stilled her hips, which she hadn't realized had picked up their tempo in grinding against his, and Darcy tried to sound convincing.

"We- we hardly know eachother."

 _('And you're with Hydra.')_

Bucky hummed his disapproval, but he removed his mouth a few inches from her breast, a child like frown on his face.

"But I want to see you cum."

God! When he says it like that, it made Darcy want to throw all sense out of the window.

Bashfully, she hid her face in the crook of her elbow so the Winter Soldier wouldn't be able to see how red her cheeks turned from his bold admission. Because if he thought he wanted to see her cum badly, well she _wanted_ to cum even worst.

Even if that meant letting a man who's name she didn't even know get her off.

"Ughhhh... _Godddd_ , just do it." Darcy groaned in a pained whimper, and Soldier didn't need to be told twice as his left hand gripped a hold of underneath one of her thighs, lifting it up higher around his waist so he could grind his hard cock against her core at a better angle.

Bucky chucked as his mouth latched to her nipple once again from through her top, sucking the damp fabric as he slowly rocked his hips into her persistently.

"Please.." Darcy gasped as Bucky slid his flesh hand underneath her top, squeezing greedily at her sides as he mapped her frame out with his fingertips.

His hand inched up her torso until his fingertips brushed the underside of her breast.

"Please what?" Winter Soldier teased, enjoying every breathy pant she released.

Darcy clenched her teeth together to refrain from crying out when she felt two fingers pinching her nipple while his mouth nipped and sucked the other from over her shirt.

" _Pleaseeee,_ touch me!"

"I am touching you, doll." His voice was laced with amusement as he finally pushed her shirt up, not pulling it over her head, but enough to cause her breasts to spill out.

Bucky licked his lips, eyes glued to her flushed chest, pink erect nipples that were hardening even further from the cold air. He groaned, "God, Darce."

"Touch me," Darcy repeated, grinding her cunt against his crotch as she slid her left hand between their bodies to unbutton her pants. "..down _here_."

Winter Soldier had on a grin that let Darcy know she wouldn't be getting what she wanted, and Soldier gently grasped her wrist, pulling it away.

"Why should I?" He asked, his tone filled with confidence, dipping his head down to press a kiss in the valley of her breast, before peeking up at her flushed expression. "I can make you cum just like this."

His lips latched onto her right nipple, and Bucky groaned in pleasure as he tasted her delectable skin for the first time, running his tongue in circles around the erect bud. Darcy's jaw dropped open when she felt Soldier begin to _suck_ , and she curled her toes into her feet.

"Please.." Darcy was begging without even realizing it, running her hand over Soldiers back. She was really starting to wish they'd taken their clothes off. Then again, she shouldn't be letting him do this to her in the first place.

And again. Yet here she was, begging for the Winter Soldier to make her cum. "Soldier, I'm so close..."

"I know, Darce.." Bucky was smiling against her breast, and he grabbed her other thigh to lift higher around his waist, grinding into her harder now, feeling his own arising orgasm coming. Fuck, he was close too, and it was entirely because of the way she panted and moaned for his touch.

"God, I bet you feel so good.."

"Put it _inn-nn-nnn_!" Darcy whined as he picked up the pace, hips moving in tight circles as he rested his right elbow by the side of her head, his eyes clenched shut in his own pleasure as Bucky rubbed his crotch against her, tilting his head to place a quick peck on her lips.

"Nnnhh... _no,_ sweetheart. I can't. Not yet. _Soon_."

Winter Soldier brought his lips back to her nipples, unable to keep himself away as he lewdly squeezed her breasts together, suckling both of the sensitive pink nubs at the same time.

Darcy wrapped her thighs around Bucky's waist, gasping as she arched against him, practically clinging to his body as her orgasm hit while he suckled her breast, hard.

"Soldier- I'm..!"

" _Good,_ " Winter Soldier whispered his praise into her ear, his hips slowling their rocking, though not coming to a complete stop as the woman he knew he was in love with clung to him for dear life as she came.

"God, Darcy, I.." He sucked in a sharp breath of air, hanging his head low as his orgasm ran down his spine, cumming in his pants like a fucking teenager without any control. This girl would be the death of him.

"Mmmmm.." Her head rolled back into the pillow as she sunk into the mattress, lifeless as her orgasm washed away.

Bucky brushed his lips against her chin, tugging her shirt back down so it would cover her breasts from the chilly air.

With a satisfied sigh, Soldier rolled to the side of Darcy, laying down next to her on the bed. She brought both of her hands to her red cheeks, covering her face in embarrassment.

"So. That happened."

Bucky chuckled, wrapping his arm around her waist and bringing her closer to him as he told her affectionately, "Go to sleep, Darcy."

"...Will you be here when I wake up?"

Soldier paused, his metal palm rubbing circles into her hip. "Most likely not. Training begins early in the morning."

He could feel her shoulders sag in defeat as she said in a disappointed voice, "Oh.."

"I'm sorry. If I had the choice, I would spend the rest of my life right here, you in my arms." Winter Soldier pressed a kiss right below her ear, and Darcy shivered with pleasant surprise.

"Can you wake me up before you leave?"

Bucky paused, wondering quietly to himself if the poor thing thought he would leave her and not return. He squeezed her hip comfortingly.

"Anything you want, doll."

"Darcy."

"Mmm?"

Darcy groaned when she felt a hand gently shake her shoulder, waking her up from her deep slumber. She was surprised she managed to fall asleep so quickly the night before, although it wasn't that surprising since she had the Winter Soldier's protective embrace keeping her safe the whole time.

"I'm leaving now. I will try to stop by if I have a moment inbetween sessions, but don't get your hopes up. I'll be back tonight, and then we can figure out how we're getting you out of here. You listening?"

"Mmhmm.." Darcy groaned groggily, rubbing her sleepy eyelids. It was too early to argue with Winter Soldier and let him know she's not leaving anywhere without him, so she settled for turning on her back and watching him head to the door.

She didn't want him to leave yet.

"Kiss?" She asked sleepily.

Bucky froze, already at the door, but he turned back around to head towards his bed, leaning down and giving his girl the kiss she so cutely asked him for.

He smiled when she tried to kiss him back, still too sleepy to fully do so, and he pulled away when he was sure Darcy had already fallen back asleep.

It was only when he began heading towards the door again when he heard her whisper in her sleep, "..don't.. forget me."

He froze, glancing over his shoulder just to double check and see if she was asleep. Darcy let out an unflattering snore, though it only made Bucky want to lay back down and sleep with her once again.

However, he had a job to do. And if he wanted to protect Darcy, then he would need to follow his orders.

Still, with his hand on the doorknob, Bucky promised his girl gently, "I won't."

And this time, he was determined to keep his promise.

 **Am I paying too much attention to Ward in this fic? I'm watching Season 3 of Agents of Shield, and every time Brett Dalton comes on the screen I literally start squealing.**  
 **Speaking of squealing. I squealed SOOOIOOOOOFSDOFJDSIJFID hard during the Civil War trailer**

 **-clears throat;;**  
 **Next chapter, Darcy finally gets to meet Bucky Barnes. And I mean, the real Bucky Barnes. Memories and all. But it doesn't turn out how you'd think.**

 **Skye enters the scene. Ward gets shot. Because Skye entered the fucking scene, duh.**

 **Darcy is totally team #StandWithWard (SKYE IS SO NOT. LOL. WHOOPS.) Captain America and the Black Widow will be making an appearance too in the next chap if we're lucky~**

 **((if you haven't seen agents of shield, I bet all of these references are boring to you. I'm sorry, I hope you still enjoy the Bucky/Darcy scenes. I might of put a little too much into Darcy/Ward in this chapter- I fucking ship it.))**

 **Did you guys like it? I've received a lot of comments saying that this fic is good but it needs to be revised- I agree with you! I'm aware that it's poorly written, and that's mostly because of my lack of effort. I just wanted to post this chapter and share it with you all ASAP since the Civil War trailer came out, and I mean cmon it's thanksgiving oxoxo**

 **((expect a 2bg update soon. and Daisies!)**


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